I spent an evening in prison.....

At work...I am lucky enough to get some opportunities that I would never have otherwise. I got to go with a bunch of our clients on Tuesday to the nearby prison...for a prison tour of sorts.

I know when most people think of prison tours...they think of those "Scared Straight" things that you see on the Montel show and stuff. Well, it wasn't exactly like that. The guards were tough...talked with the kids in the same mentality and tone that they would speak to the inmates. The kids understood that the lippy and mouthy attitudes they have at home...just wouldn't cut it in prison.

But the difference...which I thought was much better than the Scared Straight way of doing things...is the inmate panel that we had afterwards. We all sat in front of 5 inmates...who shared their stories and experiences...of how they got to prison and what life is like for them now that they are behind bars. The difference is...the inmates weren't hard asses trying to scare the kids...they were trying to connect with them in hopes that they wouldn't end up where they were. Plus...all the inmates on the panel were sent to prison when they were 16 to 17 years old...these guys were sent to prison when they were just kids. I think that made more of a difference than anything else. These kids could see themselves in the people they were looking at on the panel, etc.

I said in an earlier entry that I didn't like being in the old, abandoned prison...well, let me tell you...I didn't have any better feeling about the one jam packed full of people. I don't know how the people who work there...show up there and spend everyday in that building. It's just creepy...but then again, shouldn't prison be???