A walk behind bars: Manchester students get a tour, taste of prison

By Patrick Anderson
Staff writer

March 13, 2008 06:37 am

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Just a few months away from experiencing the freedom of graduation, Manchester Essex Regional High School seniors last week got a taste of life without any freedom.

In what has become an annual tradition at the high school, members of this year's graduating class on Friday toured Middleton Jail and received a toned-down version of the "Scared Straight" program developed to instill in students an understanding of prison life — and a strong desire never to return.

"We don't want to scare you, but we want to enlighten you about life inside a prison," Maj. Michael Backry, the students' guide, said when they entered the jail. "You'll find out today you don't know anything yet."

As he marched students through the building in an orderly, single file, Backry, a Manchester native, gave detailed descriptions of the facility's security features, from reinforced steel and razor wire to tear gas and canine units. The male students in the group were ordered to tuck in their shirts.

"Once you come to a place like this, you realize how important your family is," Backry said.

After getting a good view of the cellblock and common area — where prisoners spend their four hours of daily out-of-cell time — the students heard the stories of inmates from Boston, Everett and Gloucester, whose lives had been permanently altered by their brush with the legal system.

"It was not at all what I expected," Carly Martinetti of Manchester said of the tour. "I had spoken with previous seniors and they had not said it was that emotional. All of the inmates had in common that they had made stupid mistakes."

Martinetti said seeing how inmates can only speak with family members from behind bulletroof glass, something she had only seen in movies before, made her want to stay out of trouble.

Hayley Irwin of Essex said she was shocked to see one of the prisoners leave the facility in an ambulance just as the students arrived.

"It was more intense than I thought it would be," Irwin said. "When you are actually there you realize it can happen to any of us. I was amazed they only spent four hours out of their cells each day."

Manchester Essex seniors, led by Assistant Principal Paul Murphy, have been making the trip to Middleton for the past 14 years.

This year, all 96 members of the senior class participated — 50 of them on Feb. 29 and 46 on Friday.

"I watch their reaction as they go through, and it is very somber," Murphy said. "They always say this is the best field trip of the year. I really feel that students need to see this before they graduate."

Murphy said although some parents expressed concern the program was too harsh, he thinks it is an essential experience for any graduate.

"I have had some phone calls over the years on it, but the positive far outweighs the negative," Murphy said. "Some perceive it is as an aggressive thing, but it isn't. If this just works for one person, then this is worth it."

Tim Corsetti of Gloucester was one of four seniors given a few minutes in a holding cell with inmates who told him about the presence of gangs in prison, and how someone could be attacked for wearing the wrong colors inside.

Corsetti said he had been moved by the story of an inmate who had grown up in Gloucester.

"His whole story I could relate to," Corsetti said. "I knew all the streets he was talking about, and could see how someone could go down the wrong path."

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