Inmates and VIU students work together in the Inside-Out program, which offers a better look at the criminal justice system, as well as supports for those trying to turn their lives around. (VIU)

By Alex Rawnsley

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NANAIMO — A transformative program for students and incarcerated people has received a major financial gift which will see it expand.

Students at Vancouver Island University partner up with inmates at the Nanaimo Correctional Centre (NCC) as part of the Inside-Out program, a course designed to better inform students about the criminal justice system on the “outside” and provide supports, including post-release, to those on the “inside”.

Mark Batraki, currently serving a sentence in Nanaimo, said it’s been transformative for him in his plans to escape a cycle which has seen him in and out of jail on predominantly property and drug charges.

“We get charged, we go to jail, we do our sentences, we’re living in a negative environment, we don’t get much support through the criminal justice system, we get kicked back out after sentence and you don’t really have many opportunities to do things like I was able to do.”

He is using the program as part of his Bachelor of Arts studies, of which he’s nearly one year complete.

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Batraki leaves the jail in order to attend classes and will complete his most recent sentence in May. The course is giving him the confidence to say his most recent run in with the law will be the last.

“It gave me the will and the know that even though the life I’ve led, and the troubles I’ve been through, I can still function as a university student, continue my education. It’s been an amazing, great experience.”

A recent funding injection of $1.1 million from the Northpine Foundation will not only continue to solidify the program’s presence in Nanaimo, but help it expand to more universities and prisons.

Batraki said Inside-Out helps cause a shift in thinking for those entering the criminal justice field as future police officers, probation officers, court workers or lawyers.

“It shows them we’re all people, we all face many of the same struggles, we all have the same outlooks on life. It gives the criminology students a great aspect in reducing stigma and building relationships.”

The program came to VIU in 2016 after criminology professor Joanne Falvai attended a presentation on Inside-Out, which originated in the United States.

She told NanaimoNewsNOW it was a matter of minutes before she decided to campaign for a relationship between the university and Nanaimo Correctional Centre.

“This is exactly the culmination of the kind of teaching that I want to do. These two worlds coming together in this program was an absolute dream for me and I was thrilled other people were doing the kind of work I thought was going to be really valuable.”

While presenting as an incredibly valuable education opportunity, Falvai saw Inside-Out as a way to help a wider community.

She said she’s a supporter of education for those incarcerated, having worked in the field for over two decades.

“I absolutely believe that’s our best chance at reducing [repeat offences], to give people a new way to see themselves and the world and know there are people out in the community who are rooting for them, want to see them do well and are willing to step up to help support them to do that.”

Many “inside” students, according to Falvai, are often shocked at how well they do in school after being told previously they were “not smart” or school “isn’t for them”.

“They get in there, they work hard and they realize ‘wow, I am actually pretty smart, I can hold my own here and I have good things to say’.”

Falvai praised the relationship built over the years with NCC, enabling inmates to partake in the program and access for VIU students to those incarcerated.

The program in Nanaimo started with one, roughly 30-person class per year featuring an even split of inside and outside students.

It’s since expanded to three classes per year as a result of increased financial gifts and other funding.

Plans are in the works to expand to the Okanagan and Prince George, as well as other areas around B.C.

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