WLWT: UC students experience realities of life in prison as part of a college course
UC faculty and students featured on local news for 'Inside- Out Prison Exchange Program'
In a featured story on WLWT, Channel 5 reporter Lindsay Stone interviewed J.Z. Bennett, an assistant professor of criminal justice, and UC students taking his Topics in Corrections class where students spend one day a week at a local prison to study along with incarcerated individuals there.
“Once we kind of move past the uniforms and the security and we're all sitting at that table, we realize that we're all on an equal playing field,” Bennett tells Stone of taking students to the Lebanon Correctional Institution in Lebanon, Ohio, to learn about incarceration first- hand.
WLWT came to UC’s College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services (CECH) to learn more about the “Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program” that Bennett leads, where eight students and eight incarcerated individuals discuss criminal justice topics such as sentencing, parole, life after prison and recidivism in a classroom setting.
“They're not just their worst mistake they've ever made,” UC student Grace Downey explained in the televised interview.
Downey says it brought the human side of criminal justice to the forefront for her.
“When you think of corrections, you think of all these people who've done terrible things. We don't think about the reasons why people commit crime or why they feel the need to do these things.”
The class, to include the program, was first taught in 2023 and will be taught again in fall 2024.
Learn more about Bennett and the program.
Featured image at top of J.Z. Bennett and UC students who participated in the "Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program." Photo provided by Bennett.
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
UC takes center stage in Amazon Prime series
January 19, 2022
Filmed in July 2021, UC’s episode is a crash-course in being a Bearcat, starring a few of the university’s best and brightest students and alumni. Some are lifelong Cincinnatians; others are from across the globe. But they’re all excited to show viewers why they've called UC home: From its beautiful spaces and state-of-the-art facilities to co-op and campus life.
WLWT: UC students experience realities of life in prison as part of a college course
May 1, 2024
One day a week, eight UC students travel to the institution as part of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, where they and eight incarcerated individuals discuss criminal justice topics such as sentencing, parole, life after prison and recidivism in a classroom setting. The program is part of a class taught by J.Z. Bennett, an assistant professor of criminal justice.
PBS: Can use of force restrictions change police behavior?
July 24, 2020
To help understand the factors and issues involved in police use of force, PBS turned to University of Cincinnati criminologist Robin Engel, a renowned expert in policing policy.