College Behind Bars

College Behind Bars is part of the Partakers program, a faith-based, non-profit organization that strives for reconciliation between prisoners and society. College Behind Bars is one of the few remaining college prison programs in the country.

In conjunction with the Boston University Prison Education Program, teams of College behind Bars volunteers from Trinity visit and correspond regularly with prisoners, helping provide the encouragement and support that they need to pursue their college studies. These volunteer mentors provide academic support, resources, and vital contact with a professional world beyond prison.

"We go to prisons as a way of living out our most basic baptismal creed: to look for Christ in all people."
Melanie McFarlane, volunteer

Most volunteers report that they feel as transformed as the prisoners do. This program allows volunteers to see a different part of humanity and to participate in the very grace that saves us. In just a few hours a month, participants form amazing relationships and have opportunities to learn, teach, and become part of a small group within Trinity. Volunteers gather monthly for a potluck supper to share experiences and to prayerfully support each other in their ministry.

Click here for frequently asked questions about College Behind Bars.

Please join us!
For more information on how to become a College Behind Bars volunteer, contact Sally Crissman or Helen Weinland.

"...With all the help from Partakers volunteers from Trinity, I have continuously set goals for myself (academically and personally) and have reached these goals. These volunteers have put so much effort into my success and enabled me to recognize my own self-worth. I looked at them and realized that if these magnificent strangers can believe in me, I can too..."

Letter from a female
prisoner in the College Behind Bars program