News Archive

Professor Shawn Boyne has been awarded grant funding from the IUPUI Solution Center that will help defray expenses when she attends the weeklong Inside-Out training at the Oregon State Prison in June. The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, which was founded at Temple University in 1997, trains individuals to conduct classes inside prisons and re-entry programs.

Unlike traditional classes taught within prisons, these classes contain a mixture of outside (i.e. law students) and inside (inmates) students. Inside-Out founder and director Lori Pompa began to share her program model with educators around the country. In a few years, the program has seen an exceptional rate of growth. One class involving 15 inside and 15 outside students has grown into 300-plus classes, with over 9,000 students participating.

Professor Boyne will travel to Salem, Oregon, June 16-22 for training at the Oregon State Prison. “It is my intention to offer an upcoming law school seminar at a local correctional facility,” she said of her plans for after she completes the training. “Unfortunately, many states, including Indiana, have eliminated funding for college courses in prisons despite the fact that numerous research studies show that these educational programs reduce recidivism.”

Associate Professor Susan Hyatt in the IUPUI School of Liberal Arts is on the board of the organization and has taught numerous Inside-Out courses both in local prisons and re-entry facilities on the undergraduate level.

“Although the program has traditionally been taught at the undergraduate level, by completing the training, I hope to help the McKinney School of Law join the ranks of a modest but growing number of law schools participating in the program,” Professor Boyne said.

Professor Boyne is a former prosecuting attorney and practiced for several years as a defense attorney before pursuing her career in academia. She serves as co-chair of the Global Crisis Leadership Forum, http://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/global-crisis/ and is one of the founding members of the Comparative Law Professors blog. She also is a Dean’s Fellow and a DRIVE Fellow. Her latest book, The German Prosecution Service: Guardians of the Law?, was published in 2013 by Springer Publishing.