The PSY110 class is back from a trip to Angola Prison. The psych class is one of our many active-learning classes (in which students take out-of-class field trips to build upon what they learn in class). Professor Mitch Berman led the trip, which, I'm told, was as riveting and as life-changing as always. Our own Stacey Ready (below), coordinator of General Honors, accompanied the class.
Dr. Berman has been an expert consultant in death penalty cases and has a secondary interest in forensic psychology. Currently, one of his former doctoral students is the sole psychologist at Angola. She reports that, so far, she is enjoying her work.
Here's Dr. Berman's report of the trip:
Our students toured the prison library, the prison radio station, the prison newspaper, educational facilities, farming and dog breeding operations, medical facilities, death row (with inmates present), and the death chamber. One of our tour guides was a lifer in Angola for murder. Of course, we attended the world-famous Angola Prisoner's Rodeo, as seen on the Discovery Channel, and bought Angola t-shirts and hoodies ("Angola, a Gated Community" is a favorite). After the rodeo, we went shopping at the prisoner craft fair. I bought two beautiful hand-crafted cedar jewelry boxes for my family (selling crafts is how prisoners make money for incidental purchases).
Students describe the Angola experience as "life-changing." The purpose of the trip was to provide insight into the psychology of maximum security corrections and the death penalty. Students interviewed corrections personnel and prisoners as part of this project.