Nacogdoches 29, 2016 - Panola College Criminal Justice students toured two State Jail Prison Facilities in Henderson on Wednesday, Nov. 9. Professor Mark Dickerson organized the tour as part of the Introduction to Criminal Justice class, CRIJ 1301.
Participating in the field trip were John Buchanan, Lukas Davie, Marissa Garcia, Candice Hamilton, Benjamin Hancock, Tanya Hulett, Tameal Jones, Zachary Kiper, Alex Lavender, Bryan Lopez, Timothy Magness, Dustin Ramsey, Yesenia Risinger, Carl Schulker, George Valdez, Nancy Vang, Lyndsey Wagner, Kellie Wheeler, Shariyah Williams, Stelladra Woods, Lori Cramer, Afrikina Dotson, Kelsey Francis, Kristen Honeycutt, Emily McIntosh, Latravia Willis.
Dickerson said the field trip gives his students a behind-the-scenes look at prison life from an administrative, employee and inmate perspective.
"One of the reasons I plan this field trip is to show students another portion of criminal justice they may have never considered as a career opportunity," he said. "With each tour, I see former students that have taken the tour and decided employment in corrections is not as scary or bad as they thought. I have several former Panola College Criminal Justice students now employed at the facilities."
Both jail facilities are managed by private corporations. The Bradshaw State Jail is owned by the State of Texas but managed by Core Civic. The East Texas Treatment Facility is owned and managed by Management Training Corporation. Bradshaw is a holding facility where people serve time for state jail offenses. The Treatment Facility provides treatment for behavioral and addictive issues.
“The facilities illustrate the privatization of corrections not only here in Texas, but also in the U.S. as a whole,” Dickerson said.
