NYC PGP supports Inside Out Prison Exchange Program

This fall incarcerated students at Westchester County Jail will join students at Manhattan College to earn college credit together.  The course, Criminal Justice Ethics, taught by Professor Andrew Skotnicki, is structured as a  traditional Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, but using a virtual platform while social distancing restrictions remain.  Incarcerated students began the semester with asynchronous learning utilizing tablets to access readings and recorded lectures. In addition, students at Manhattan College and at the Westchester jail will be participating together in synchronous live sessions, facilitated by Professor Skotnicki and PGP  teaching assistants. In addition to their course work, the Manhattan College students completed PGP’s  National Pre-Service training for volunteer tutors. 

PGP is also supporting Manhattan College’s Inside-Out course at Rikers Island. This is PGP’s fifth year supporting Inside-Out courses in New York. PGP tutors have supported nearly a dozen Inside-Out courses in recent years at jails and prisons across PGP’s seven regions. In New York, course topics have ranged from “Opera, Religion, and Confinement” to “Shakespeare, Prison, and God.” 

“I am excited to be teaching our 21st course at the jails at Rikers island and Westchester County,” said professor Andrew Skotnicki. “Each student who completes the class will be enabled to study at our Manhattan College main campus at no cost to them. Highly instrumental in the success of the course and the students is the Petey Greene Program. Jon Cortez (PGP NY Regional Manager/National Blended Learning Manager) and the gifted and dedicated tutors from the Petey Greene Program have been an invaluable aid in the success that many of our formerly incarcerated students have achieved on our main campus.”