Jamie Gray, teacher, Collins Bay Institution

      

Jamie shares that while most inmates he teaches don’t have a high school education, CSC is helping them build their skills with the help of volunteers and programs like the Book Club for Inmates.

Video transcript

Jamie

Working with offenders is just, it's like us talking.

These are regular people that have had some unfortunate mistakes and events that have occurred in their life, and they're just people.

JUST PEOPLE

Jamie
Teacher

My name is Jamie Gray. I'm a teacher at Collins Bay Institution at the medium and maximum (security) sites.

Working as a teacher inside Canadian prisons, is a unique experience. It's been challenging, but it's brilliant. I absolutely love it.

It's put me out of my comfort zone at times but it's a pretty cool feeling to teach guys who didn't really accept education initially. You form these relationships with these individuals and it's pretty cool to see their path and the outcomes.

I always try with new students to relate in some way. I'm a big sports guy, so sports is usually a topic of interest with a lot of individuals in here. I do have a child, so I kind of relate as a parent to some of these individuals. You find commonality and you kind of build off that. A lot of these guys that at least I meet don't have their high school (education). So, right off the hop that limits them with a variety of positions in the community. I always say to guys “education it’s more than just books.” It's your experiences, your skills that you gain, so we work with a lot of other departments here kind of building on the education side of things. We go from just upgrading math skills even English skills to high school. And in high school we teach English, math, electives. So an elective I run a physical education and health course. I put a lot of push on my students to keep continuing with their education beyond just their high school. One of the big things I do here is the Max Book Club, and it's been a huge success. It can only fit so many students into a class but I have two great volunteers that come from the community. Once a month we meet, discuss a variety of books and like I said, it's been a really good experience.

I do feel like I make a difference with some of our guys, I may not reach all of them but there is success. It's pretty cool to see a guy actually succeed while being incarcerated.

CHANGING LIVES. PROTECTING CANADIANS.

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