SRU students along with their classmates from the Butler County Prison were required to write papers and complete other work for the criminology course taught at the prison.

The atmosphere at the beginning of a Slippery Rock University criminology course taught in a nontraditional setting with people who have first-person perspectives was tense and filled with anxiety.

By the end of the 15-week course, the SRU students wished it would have lasted longer.

“No college student says that ever,” said Sarah Kuehn, an associate criminology professor at SRU who taught the course to a combined class of students and Butler County Prison inmates at the prison.

“Inside-Out View of Criminal Justice Issues,” dubbed CRIM 370 in the SRU course catalog, is an elective for juniors or seniors pursuing a major or minor in criminology.

Kuehn said she previously taught the course at SCI Mercer, but approached the county prison about conducting the course there because the state prison stopped allowing visitors and ended programming due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Slippery Rock University criminology students Rachel Becker, left, and Ayslyn Duffy, were part of a class taught in the Butler County Prison with inmates as classmates.