’60 Minutes’ Examines German-Style Experiment at Connecticut Prison
Could this program revolutionize the American prison system?
The CT Post reports that 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker had caught wind of a new method that would help inmates at the Chesire Correctional Institute change their lives. Inmate Shyquinn Dix was skeptical and thought it was too good to be true when he told Whitaker what the staff explained to him:
Like, Oh, the correctional officers and staff care about you. You get a second chance at life if you take it serious.
The program is a part of the Connecticut Department of Corrections and is called the T.R.U.E Unit. At first, inmate Dix thought it was B.S. After completion of the program, Dix is now a Dean's List student and basketball star at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
Governor Daniel Malloy traveled to Germany to look into this radical attempt at prison reform developed by the Germans. T.R.U.E stands for, Truthfulness to one's self and others, Respect toward the community, Understanding ourselves and what brought us here, and Elevating to success.
The way it works is that prison lifers help young inmates prepare for life after prison. In Germany, prisons are focused on rehabilitation as opposed to punishment. The T.R.U.E. method works and is geared towards 18 to 25-year-old men. Inside the German prisons, you can actually see inmates playing board games with correctional officers. To get a more in-depth look at the T.R.U.E rehabilitation program, click on the 13-minute 60 Minutes video. Could this program actually revolutionize America's prison system?