Moving Beyond the Walls
April 21, 2026
In the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, Cal Lutheran students and their incarcerated peers attend classes and learn together.
On a Thursday afternoon in May, twenty California Lutheran University students sat in a circle inside the Ventura County Juvenile Facilities compound in Oxnard. The students were participating in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, an international initiative that has won praise for its trailblazing approach to education about and rehabilitation within the justice system.
“They are peers who are learning as college students together,” said Schannae L. Lucas, an Inside-Out Instructor and Cal Lutheran professor who chairs the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department and led the class during the 16-week spring semester.
In this session, near the end of the semester, the students conversed comfortably with one another about various aspects of the criminal justice system, including trauma, victimization, and rehabilitation. The easy collaboration marked a big improvement after the initial jitter-filled classes when trust was at a minimum and “insiders” made assumptions about “outsiders” — and vice versa.
On their final day together, students in the Inside-Out program pose for a photo with professor Schannae L. Lucas inside the Ventura County Juvenile Justice facility after the closing ceremony in May.
