MANSFIELD, PA— Sixteen Mansfield University students, led by Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Administration (CJA) Justin Crowl, toured Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary on Thursday, March 22.
The penitentiary, known for its rich history and architectural design, is a high security federal prison housed within the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
For most of the students, all of whom are in Crowl’s Survey of Corrections course, it was the first time they went behind the walls of a federal prison.
An overview of the prison, often referred to as ‘The Big House’, was first provided by Warden Dave Ebbert, a 1987 Mansfield graduate and alumni of the CJA Department and practitioner with over 20 years of experience in the correctional field.
Students were provided valuable information about the history of the facility, the culture of federal prisons, staff-inmate dynamics, and correctional careers.
A tour of the facility, guided by unit managers and Shawn Barlett, executive assistant and camp administrator, then followed. Students viewed several two-person housing units, no larger than a typical college dorm room, some inhabited by prisoners serving life sentences with others housing cadre inmates. They also had the opportunity to tour various other parts of the prison, including the prison library, medical services, the gymnasium, a large room with auditorium-style seating that was once used to show movies to inmates, and the dining hall.
As a follow-up to the tour, students completed a reflection assignment in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Crowl’s class. Specifically, they were asked to reflect on the tour and discuss what they learned, relating some of the things they experienced to content previously discussed in class. Students were also asked to share their perceptions of the experience and, notably, what they would tell someone who has never toured a federal prison.
The students who participated in the tour were Aaron Benfer, Adam Brooks, Anthony Brown, Jordan Cowen, Dakota Eaton, Dylan Flexer, Stephanie Leister, Alecia Marmora, Ryan McClain, James Natali, Camren Ney, Lashay Parker, Sharima Rowland, Evan Shumway, Ceisean Tucker and Hannah Woodward.
To learn more about studying CJA at Mansfield, go to cja.mansfield.edu