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WiSJ: "Inmate volunteer program grows"
On the heels of a Dane County press release, the WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL (their caps) did a story about Huber inmates doing volunteer work:
"When they 're out, they have to follow jail rules, plus I have a few rules, too, like no flicking cigarette butts," [volunteer coordinator Lynn] Montgomery said. "I tell them, don 't make any bad decisions on my volunteer time -- because otherwise I have to squish 'em like a bug."
She laughed, then added, "Actually, everybody does real well. "
(Lynn is a trip, and has been great fun to work with as a "civilian" volunteer, too.)
The story reports that inmates volunteer nearly 20,000 hours annually, to groups like Salvation Army and Centro Hispano. Some of the volunteers are unemployed, so the volunteer time is a valuable activity that both keeps them busy and keeps them engaged in the community.
∞ | December 18, 2007 in jail library journal
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Comments
This reminds me of a former student I saw at the Centro Hispano food pantry last year. It was kind of funny. I was like "Hi, I'm your economically challenged teacher who has to get food from the food pantry." And he was like, "Long time no see. Last you knew I was in middle school, but now I'm fresh out of jail, doing obligatory community service because I grew up to be a criminal." We didn't actually say those things, but it was all understood. A beautiful moment, really, of comaraderie in shared history and shared defeat.
This kid was one of my (many) favorite students. (A lot of my students actually turned out to be favorites, but that doesn't make the term favorite any less special.) He also happens to have the same name as my first born son. (Not because I actually named my son after him, but he was definitely part of the inspiration as he put a very positive spin on a cool name.)
Posted by: Salamanda | Jan 26, 2008 9:34:44 PM
