Inside Out Prison Exchange Program

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program (Inside-Out) is a national program based in Philadelphia at Temple University. Inside-Out was established by Lori Pompa in 1997 to bring college students and incarcerated men and women together to explore and learn about issues of crime and justice from behind prison walls. The program was founded on the simple hypothesis that incarcerated men and women and college students might mutually benefit from studying together as peers.

The program provides individuals on both sides of the prison walls the unique opportunity to engage in a collaborative, dialogic examination of issues of social significance through the particular lens that is the "prism of prison." Through college classes and community exchanges, the program seeks to deepen the conversation about and transform our approaches to understanding crime, justice, freedom, inequality, and other issues of social concern. Inside-Out creates a paradigm shift for participants, encouraging transformation and change in individuals and, in so doing, serves as an engine for social change. Since its inception, students of Inside-Out both inside and outside have time and again claimed that the experience transformed the ways they viewed themselves and the world.