In Connecticut prison, it's the inmates leading counseling

SOMERS, Conn. -- Imprisoned for killing a man, Edward White feared retaliation when he learned a fellow inmate was his victim's nephew.

For a time, the inmate stopped speaking with White. But he offered forgiveness, an act White credits to the peer-counseling program through which they met.

"Prison logic will tell you it's supposed to become violent," said White, 35. "If we didn't have the opportunity to meet in the program, who knows how he would have reacted?"

White told his story one day last week to visitors including Connecticut's top federal prosecutor and several federal judges. They all were gathered inside a chapel at Osborn Correctional Institution to learn how the inmates are coaching each other to accept responsibility, respect themselves and others and ultimately prepare for life after prison.

A half-dozen inmates, including killers and former gang leaders, gave a presentation on their program, known as Skills of Socialization, or SOS, before chatting over coffee and cinnamon buns with dignitaries including the senior U.S. judge for the district of Connecticut, Janet Bond Arterton.

Federal prosecutor Deirdre Daly said the soaring rates of recidivism for convicts in the U.S. are not sustainable, and she wanted to highlight the inmates' work.

"It's important for you to know there is support on the outside," Daly told the prisoners.

The program, launched two years ago by seven inmates serving lengthy sentences, involves an eight-week curriculum and outside speakers.

Its leaders described to the judges how they came to grips with their anger, born in some cases of childhood trauma, and how they teach their peers to realize their actions affect others and move beyond a criminal lifestyle.

It is unusual for inmates to develop peer-counseling programs themselves, although they have far more credibility with the prison population than outsiders, according to Brad Brockmann, executive director of the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights in Rhode Island.

Unlike many prison-run counseling programs, this one is voluntary, and participation has no effect on release dates.

Still, there is a waiting list with 200 inmates, and any participant who has a disciplinary infraction is sent to the back of the line.