On Friday morning, five members of Eastern’s Criminal Justice Students Club went to prison.

The CJS members, together with faculty sponsor Reed Benedict, toured the Federal Correctional Institution in Greenville.

Greenville’s FCI houses both a medium-security men’s prison and a minimum-security women’s prison, according to its Web site.

The tour helps students understand how prisoners live, said club president Steven Dalechek.

“They can see first-hand what it is like being an inmate,” Dalechek said. “(The tour) helps many of the members to learn first-hand what type of environment the prisoners are really living (in), rather than having their opinion (biased) by television.”

That environment includes room for education, work and recreation, he added.

“We saw the activities they did: from working at the factory inside the prison, making uniforms for the U.S Army, to taking classes to receive their GED,” Dalechek said. “The inmates also had a wood shop area were they made kitchen and bathroom cabinets, for Habitat for Humanity in the St. Louis region.”

The tour also took the Eastern students around the prison’s exterior, and through the inmates’ recreation area and art room.

The trip to Greenville also helped students understand efforts to prevent repeat offenses by inmates, Dalechek said.

“It also helps many students understand how corrections are taking individuals out of society and transforming them into better citizens by establishing programs to help them cope with the world once they are released,” he said.

Joe Astrouski can be reached at 581-7942 or at jmastrouski@eiu.edu.