Unlikely Encouragement Warms the Heart

Michigan's prisoners are required to attend an employment readiness workshop as they get close to their time for release from prison. For the last year, I have had the privilege of volunteering as a facilitator in the Employment Readiness program at the Handlon Correctional facility. 
I, and several other Calvin Prison Initiative students, volunteer to facilitate these classes as a way for us to give back to our fellow prisoners just a fraction of the immense blessing we have been given through our bachelor's degree program. As a part of our facilitation, we cover preparing effective resumes, awareness of body language during interviews, the meaning of interview questions, and we end the series of classes with mock job interviews by a panel of facilitators. We intentionally make the mock interviews stressful in order to lessen a prisoner's anxiety when he faces a real job interview. 

Recently, we were in the final day of our workshop, mock interviews, and two of the men present were very timid and extremely nervous to participate. It is not mandatory to participate in the mock interviews, but we do encourage each man to risk participating in order to gain the experience. I was somewhat surprised that one particular young man volunteered to be "interrogated" in a mock interview. He had just seen several others go before him, at least one of which experienced the "bad cop" interrogation from one of the panel interviewers. 

This young man, I'll call him Zach, was very nervous when he sat down for his interview. He had difficulty maintaining eye contact, he swiveled in the chair we use specifically to test one's ability to control nervous body language, and he stumbled terribly in answering the first softball question we lobbed at him: "Tell us a little about yourself." After we gave him some time to compose himself, he answered the question briefly and barely looked at the interviewers. As we continued the interview, though, he improved, gaining some control of his anxiety and answering questions with longer responses. At times, he even maintained eye contact for more than ten seconds. It wasn't a great interview, but it was a huge step for this young man in building the confidence he needed to have when an employer would come to the prison to interview him for a job (this happens quite often here because of the Vocational Village at this prison). 

After each interview, the panel provides the prisoner with both positive feedback and constructive criticism, and then we open it up for other participants to provide peer feedback. This helps each participant pay attention to the techniques we had previously taught so when it is his turn, he is more aware of them. I was very surprised to find that when it came time for Zach's peer feedback, it was nearly all positive. The other men in the room, contrary to what one would expect (and what one normally observes) in prison, rallied around him and praised him for his courage in participating. Without nitpicking his performance, they boosted his confidence and encouraged him. It was heartwarming to see. 

Prisoners are not always what is depicted on television. In fact, we rarely are. This heartwarming scene showed that many prisoners, who themselves need encouragement, are willing to encourage another man when he needs it. We are, after all, just broken men in search of healing and redemption.