An Analysis of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program: Outside Students’ Empathy, Social Connectedness, and Criminal Justice Activism

Abstract

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program unites college students and incarcerated individuals for semester-long courses. The present study assessed the association between Inside-Out participation and perceptions of incarcerated populations, as well as criminal justice activism. Specifically, we compared Inside-Out participants to students who submitted a request to enroll in Inside-Out but ultimately did not participate, and students who neither participated nor requested enrollment, on: empathy, social closeness and similarity to incarcerated individuals, and criminal justice activism importance and confidence. Inside-Out students expressed greater affective, but not cognitive, empathy, and felt closer and more similar to the incarcerated, compared to their non-participating peers. Inside-Out students and those who requested enrollment did not differ in activism. Both groups scored higher than students who neither participated nor requested enrollment. Present findings demonstrate that empathy and social connectedness towards incarcerated populations are uniquely associated with Inside-Out Program participation, not simply an interest in its curriculum.