McLeansville Reading and Discussion Group
Background:
Prompted by students' requests, staff in Community Learning began searching for a prison facility where Guilford volunteers could tutor. All of the prison camps we called politely told us "No thank you." Bringing college students into the prison setting every week brought challenges that no prison officials wanted to tackle. When we heard the news that a Guilford alumnus had been appointed Superintendent at Guilford Correctional Facility (only a twenty minute drive from our campus) in McLeansville, we thought our luck might be changing. A call to Superintendent James Lacewell '89 confirmed that he was willing to talk with us to explore the possibilities. After several conversations, and with many rules and much caution, we began tutoring in February 1997 with four students, a staff member and six inmates working to pass the G.E.D. Test.
Our program has been running for eight years now. The one-to-one tutoring program no longer exists, but a few of the men with good reading skills asked for a reading discussion group. They longed to read good books, share ideas and engage in intellectual conversation. We began the reading discussion group during our second semester in prison. This program has become so popular among Guilford students that several are turned away each semester.
What We Do:
Guilford students now go out to the Prison once a week to participate in a reading discussion group with a small group of the men. Discussions vary from race, religion, government, and realtionships.
Here's a link to personal messages from former inmates at the Guilford Correctional Center
Contact for 2007-2008 School Year
Student Project Coordinator:
Imeh Ntuen intuen@guilford.edu
Site Supervisor:
James Lacewell
Guilford Correctional Center
250 Camp Burton Road
McLeansville, NC 27301
Staff Liason:
James Shields
Director of Bonner Center for Community Learning
jshields@guilford.edu