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| Woman Shares Freedom With Those In Prison |
| By Hartford Courant |
| Published: 01/07/2002 |
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Barbara Smith spent years in a kind of jail - shut away because she was afraid to speak to people. Now, Smith spends her spare time in another kind of jail - the J.B.Gates Correctional Facility - where the steel doors lock with an echoing clang behind Smith when she goes in each week to help inmates set up a chapter of Toastmasters International. Smith belongs to a Toastmasters Club at Millstone Power Station, where she works as an engineering analyst. She says the organization has so changed her life, she's convinced it can give prisoners the same kind of boost to their self-esteem. The 20 prisoners who gather around a big horseshoe-shaped table in the prison along with Smith and three other fellow Millstone employees meet weekly to learn, in the same way Smith has, how to talk in public. But, while the Millstone workers joined Toastmasters to come out of their shells, the inmates have different reasons for becoming involved. 'I've been high all my life,' says Michael Hopson. 'When they cut you loose from this place, you have to deal with issues - problems. Toastmasters can help me with that.' 'I want to be able to talk up about civil rights, to help people see the way the justice system works,' says Henry Austin, who hopes to go to law school. Several prisoners want to be able to talk effectively with young people about the downsides of breaking the law. The Toastmasters' agenda is highly structured with members going through prescribed steps to become more proficient, and this was Rivers' second talk called the 'Speak with Sincerity' speech. Rivers fulfilled his requirements, speaking with sincerity about Project Reach, a program that sends prisoners out to high schools to talk about, as Rivers put it, 'how easy it is to get in trouble.' Speeches are rated by members, the amount of time a speech takes noted by the 'the timer' and the number of "ahas" and 'ums' recorded by the 'ah' counter. |
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