Erica Orta felt nervous waiting for the Zoom screen to light up as she sat in front of a computer at the Ohio Reformatory for Women preparing to facilitate a meeting for the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera)’s Unlocking Potential team for the first time. But when the faces appeared, she smoothly led the team through the agenda, showing the benefits of internships for people in prison.

“It was surreal,” said Orta regarding internships for people in prison. “I know for most people it’s not that big a deal, but being incarcerated and being able to do something like that was an amazing boost.”

During her 10-month remote internship at Vera, Orta worked on several projects to support the expansion of prison education opportunities. From the computer room in her correctional facility, she worked on projects like a fact sheet for corrections and colleges and a memo to support work-based learning opportunities for incarcerated people. Her work was used during a presentation about the importance of prison education opportunities at the Incarcerated Scholars Conference.

Advances in remote work technology have expanded the possibilities for incarcerated people. “Internships and other experiential learning positions that were once unthinkable for incarcerated students are now becoming viable,” notes the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison on internships for people in prison.

Orta, a student in Sinclair Community College’s prison program, says that her internship with Vera provided her with new skills and increased confidence. “The internship took me outside of prison,” she said. “People who have been incarcerated for a long time doubt ourselves. But everybody made me feel as though I fit into that work.”

In addition to providing work experience, internships that pay a living wage benefit incarcerated people by allowing them to save money to support themselves as they leave prison and try to find work and housing. An internship with an outside organization can also help incarcerated people secure well-paying jobs after release, making it more likely that they will be able to break the cycle of incarceration. “Having a college degree is a powerful way to offset the disadvantage of a criminal record,” said Allan Wachendorfer, associate director of Vera’s Unlocking Potential initiative. “But we think having a resume that shows you've applied your skills makes it more likely you'll be hired sooner, during the most crucial period of reentry.”

Read the full article about internships for people in prison by Erica Bryant at Vera Institute of Justice.