Marietta Martinovic is a senior lecturer in Global Studies at RMIT and the first Australian academic to complete the Inside Out Prison Exchange Program training in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2008. We talk about how Marietta came to be studying and teaching in corrections and her involved in Inside Out and how it took her eight years to get it up and running in Australia.
Inside Out is a program where ‘Inside’ students work alongside ‘Outside’ students within a prison environment for an entire semester.
Marietta talks about what a day in the Inside Out program looks like for the students involved, where the lived criminal justice experience meets the text book experience. For the students involved it’s not just about the criminal justice system it’s about personal growth with student’s often saying ‘This is life changing’.
Marietta discusses the Think Tanks that have emerged from Inside Out, where past students from Inside Out come together in the prison on a voluntary basis and have become advocacy groups; working on projects to either improve the incarceration experience or reduce the likelihood of reoffending after incarceration.
Marietta said: ‘If you believe in something, keep at it, don’t give up, there’s always a way.’
You can learn more about the Inside Out Prison Exchange Program here or head to Marietta’s RMIT profile to contact her for more information.
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