Learning Behind Prison Bars: University Students and Prisoners’ Experiences of Studying Together

This chapter provides a detailed study of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program delivered at two Victorian prisons—Dame Phyllis Frost Centre and Marngoneet Correctional Centre since 2015. As part of this program at each prison, 15 carefully selected Criminology and Justice Studies students and 15 incarcerated individuals together undertake a semester long undergraduate subject. The subject matter is ‘comparative criminal justice systems.’ All students are required to undertake university standard assessments. The chapter outlines the similarities and differences between the inside and outside students’ experience related to their knowledge of offending behaviours, sentencing and the prison system. It concludes with information on the way the teaching program shaped and changed student views of the criminal justice system, often in surprising ways.