Barbed Wire-Guards-Inmates Part of College Course
It was not the typical first day of school for college student Jesse Pobuda.
"The first day I pulled up, all you see is this razor wire and fences," the 33-year-old from Belle Plaine recalled on Wednesday about his inaugural session in an innovative curriculum.
"It was a little nerve racking," Pobuda admitted as his stood outside the fence topped with barbed wire that rings the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes.
The prison is home to about 1,300 inmates. And on Wednesday nights, nine Rasmussen College students and an instructor pass through a metal detector, heavy metal doors, and armed guards for a criminology course with inmates as fellow classmates.
"(It's) one more opportunity - learning opportunity - that we can provide for some of our guys," explained the prison's education director, Jim Muckenhirn.
The 11-week course, now in its second quarter, is part of a national 'Inside-Out' program that has paired 9,000 students and inmates in 37 states.
Bill Gumtow has served 18 years so far for a second degree murder conviction. With only two and a half years more to go, he signed up for the class. The 51-year-old from Duluth hopes to work on his socializing skills for when he leaves the structured life he's known for so long.
"In here you see society as us versus them mentality," Gumtow told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS in an interview conducted inside the prison. "And I think the most profound thing I gained from this class was breaking the walls down... It allowed me to see that I could one day be a part of society again."
