B23: Prisons in America: An Insider’s View - 3 units
Ray Jacquin
Wed. 9:00–10:30 a.m. - Oct. 29, Nov. 5, 12, 19, Dec. 3
Senior Center - Limit: 75

Ray Jacquin, a retired warden of a maximum-security prison, started his career at Rikers Island Penal Complex in New York City. He has served in various capacities, including Commanding Officer of the first Prison Hostage Negotiation Team in New York State and Commanding Officer of the Corrections Training Academy. He is a certified Police Instructor who has authored and instructed courses in prison security and prison-management strategies. He also has served on the Criminal Justice Task Force on Prison Overcrowding.

Time magazine has called America “the Inmate Nation”; there are approximately two million people incarcerated in our prisons and jails. This course will provide a rare look at life behind the walls of a maximum-security prison. We will discuss the inmate subculture, how various criminal personalities fit into the inmate hierarchy (pecking order), and the issues of criminal activity, violence and drugs within the prison.  The causes of prison riots, such as Attica, will be explored, as well as what penologists call the Treatment/Punishment dichotomy. We will discuss offender case histories, the prohibitive cost of incarceration and alternative sentencing.

There will be an optional field trip to a correctional facility after the course has ended.