Connecticut inmates lead counseling program
SOMERS, Conn. — Imprisoned for killing a man, Edward White initially feared retaliation when he learned a fellow inmate was his victim’s nephew.
For a time, the inmate stopped speaking with White. But he ultimately offered forgiveness, an act that White credits to the peer counseling program through which they met.
“Prison logic will tell you it’s supposed to become violent,” said White, 35. “If we didn’t have the opportunity to meet in the program, who knows how he would have reacted.”
White told his story one day last week to visitors including Connecticut’s top federal prosecutor and several federal judges. They were inside a chapel at Osborn Correctional Institution to learn how the inmates are coaching one another to accept responsibility, respect themselves and others, and ultimately prepare for life after prison.
A half-dozen inmates, including killers and former gang leaders, gave a presentation on their program, known as Skills of Socialization, or SOS, before chatting with dignitaries including the senior U.S. judge for the district of Connecticut, Janet Bond Arterton.
U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly said the soaring rates of recidivism for convicts in the U.S. are not sustainable and she wanted to highlight the inmates’ work.
“It’s important for you to know there is support on the outside,” Daly told prisoners.
The program, launched two years ago by seven inmates serving lengthy sentences, involves an eight-week curriculum and outside speakers. Its leaders described to the judges how they came to grips with their own anger, born in some cases of childhood trauma, and how they teach their peers to realize how their actions affect others and move beyond a criminal lifestyle.
Unlike many prison-run counseling programs, this one is voluntary, and participation has no impact on release dates. Still, there is a waiting list with 200 inmates.
“We like to get to these guys early. We can change their thinking, and we can change their lives,” said Tyrone Whitaker, one of the program’s founders.