Kaile Stevens did not write her reflection on a laptop. She wrote it by hand, on lined notebook paper, the way students inside correctional facilities do. Dated May 15, 2026, her words land with the kind of clarity that formal academic writing rarely achieves.

“This program offers a uniquely inspired path toward a transformed life. It provides a platform rooted in a common pursuit of knowledge, which culminates in our ability to begin adding value to a community we once took away from.”

Kaile Stevens, Inside-Out student

Stevens is one of the inside students currently enrolled in CSU Pueblo’s Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program at La Vista Correctional Facility. Her reflection is one of several that came in this spring, each one different in voice, but carrying the same thread: education changes something.

That is precisely what CSU Pueblo and its partners are counting on.

A Different Kind of Classroom

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program pairs CSU Pueblo students with incarcerated students to take college-level courses together inside the facility. The Department of Sociology, Criminology, and Anthropology has participated since 2017, when Dr. Colleen Hackett launched it at CSU Pueblo. Currently, six outside students and six inside students make up each cohort at La Vista.

There are no phones in the room. No notifications. For three hours, everyone is present.

Associate Professor Heidi Reynolds-Stenson completed her Inside-Out instructor certification in 2020 and has taught at La Vista since programming resumed after the pandemic. She teaches Understanding Lived Experiences, a course where students read memoirs and examine those life stories, alongside their own, through a sociological lens.

“I am always amazed by the powerful learning that occurs for everyone, including me, when we bring incarcerated and non-incarcerated students together for these classes.”

Associate Professor Heidi Reynolds-Stenson

Her colleague Michael Briscoe, assistant professor in the same department, teaches Crime and Society in Science Fiction and Crime, Law, and Justice Studies. In both courses, students write original short stories built around sociological and criminological concepts.

At the end of each semester, Briscoe compiles the stories into a printed book and gives every student a copy.

“It gives a special sense of ownership and pride for students to have their work published in a tangible book rather than just typed up, turned in, and forgotten.”

Assistant Professor Michael Briscoe

With student permission, he has presented their work at the Southern Colorado Conference for the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and will bring it to the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting in New York this summer.

What Students Are Saying

The testimonials from this spring’s cohort speak for themselves.

“Taking this class has motivated me to continue on to obtain my college degree. I learned that sharing my story helps others learn. I learned that I am resilient and open to growing and understanding other’s stories.”

Natalie Martinez, Inside-Out student

“This class was more than just a college elective class. From the books to the topics, students and professor participation, this class is an experience. I am encouraged to further my education as a result of my experience.”

Emily Kirby, Inside-Out student

“In a way this program has also allowed me to share and express my own trauma that it has healed some part of me. Reading the memoir books has changed and made me much more aware of the seriousness. I recommend this class because it is genuine, purposeful and helpful.”

Anonymous Inside-Out student

“Sometimes it is hard to cope with incarceration as one may at times feel stagnant, not being able to make any progress or any forward movement in life. So having Inside Out Programs at our facility helped with our mental health as well. This class has given me purpose, direction, and motivation in life.”

Anonymous Inside-Out student

“In all of my college time, four years, these classes have been some of the most engaging ones. It brings back some of the beauty in human interaction and helps me feel even more human even as an outside student when I get to learn at the prison. These classes are very important and vital to what helps set CSU Pueblo apart from other universities.”

Gabe, CSU Pueblo student

“This class overall allows an open conversation on top of learning more about why things happen. It allows for inside students to have a chance at learning and improving.”

Rachel, CSU Pueblo student

Beyond the Classroom: F(r)iction in the Classroom

Inside-Out is not the only program reaching incarcerated students through CSU Pueblo. Through CSU Pueblo Extended Studies, the university partners with Brink Literacy Project, whose F(r)iction in the Classroom program brings three creative writing courses into correctional facilities.

Using F(r)iction, a nationally distributed literary journal, and original comic book curriculum developed specifically for the program, Brink teaches at Youth Offender Services and at La Vista Women’s Correctional Facility.

The Numbers Behind the Work

The case for prison education has been building for years, and the research now backs it with hard figures.

A 2023 meta-analysis by researchers at Middle Tennessee State University, published in the American Journal of Criminal Justice, reviewed 78 studies and 148 estimates on the effects of prison education programs. Participation in any form of educational program leads to a 14.8% decrease in the likelihood of recidivism.

The data by program type is sharper still. College education reduces recidivism the most, leading to a 27.7% decrease in the probability of recidivism, followed by vocational education at 9.4%, secondary education at 7.2%, and adult basic education at 6.3%.

The Vera Institute of Justice calculates the average cost of imprisonment at $40,028 per prisoner per year, meaning each return to prison costs approximately $107,000. Against that figure, the return on investment for prison education programs is substantial.

Access to funding has expanded alongside the evidence. As of July 1, 2023, incarcerated individuals now have access to federal Pell Grants to put toward their education, nearly 30 years after the original ban.

A Workforce and Human Need

One former CSU Pueblo student who completed two Inside-Out courses emailed Briscoe after graduation to share that she had been offered a job at La Vista Correctional Facility. Others have gone on to graduate programs in social work focused on serving incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people.

“Whether you call it a workforce need or a human need or a societal need, we need more empathetic and critical thinking people who can resist and challenge that urge to write off entire groups of people.”

Assistant Professor Michael Briscoe

Every job application in criminology and criminal justice asks applicants about their experience with justice-impacted people. The Inside-Out program answers that question with 16 weeks of direct experience inside a correctional facility, CDOC training, and course content that demands students think differently about the criminal justice system and about each other.

CSU Pueblo’s goal is to be the people’s university of the southwest. Prisons are part of that landscape. Programs like Inside-Out and F(r)iction in the Classroom are how the university holds to that commitment, one classroom at a time.

For information about Inside-Out courses or the F(r)iction in the Classroom program through CSU Pueblo Extended Studies, contact the Department of Sociology, Criminology, and Anthropology or the Office of Extended Studies.