Unique field trip takes criminology, law & society students to women’s prison
Seventeen Anteaters entered prison gates, walked through the yard and poked their noses into individual cells during a unique field trip to the California Institution for Women (CIW) in Chino Nov. 12 as part of a Fall 2025 upper-division criminology, law & society course.
Throughout the quarter, School of Social Ecology lecturer Laceé Pappas led C115: Prisons, Punishment, and Corrections enrollees through the numerous facilities and functions of the U.S. prison system from cozy campus confines. Thanks to personal connections within the field, “Dr. P,” as her students affectionately call her, extended the learning beyond the lecture hall to an actual correctional facility as an extracurricular opportunity.
She coordinated the morning tour with Lt. William Newborg, a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation public information officer associated with CIW and the nearby California Institution for Men (CIM). Students were allowed to explore nearly the entire facility — if they followed the same procedures as any other visitor to a state prison. This included submitting detailed clearance paperwork before arriving, leaving all electronic devices in cars and submitting to the check-in process at the front desk.
Walking out to the CIW yard proved to be an eye-opening experience as many students’ preconceived notions about what a prison looks like evaporated. The main courtyard was more reminiscent of a local community park, with vast lawns, soccer goals and flowers growing throughout. Many incarcerated individuals doing yard maintenance even greeted the young visitors, with one commenting about liking a student’s shoes.
The air of familiarity and comfort mitigated any underlying tension or fear. Tangible interactions like these are particularly powerful for reversing stereotypes and internal biases, and work to humanize this segregated population.
As the tour moved throughout the different housing facilities, Anteaters had the opportunity to look inside individual cells.
The cells and classrooms, where incarcerated people can seek numerous trade degrees, certifications and even master’s degrees, presented a stark contrast to the dull and lifeless interiors of the Administrative Segregation unit, where identical white jumpsuits and shackled hands and feet were required. Cells here were not decorated, and the entire building was colder in general than the other housing units. These differences serve as a form of deterrence — no one wants to be placed in a cold, sterile and isolated housing unit.
“One of the most exciting parts of the whole tour was when Dr. P got the chance to actually be locked inside an Administrative Segregation cell,” remarked one student of her instructor’s minute-long prison stretch.
This visit gave Anteaters a rare firsthand look at the realities of incarceration and worked to expand their education beyond classroom walls.
— Nick Walan