Inspire, Summer 2000

Alumni Profile: Mar aret Stowell Wh e y Wiljamaa'98 Do NotPass Go,Do NotCollect $200 Go Straight W hen it comes to having served time in prison, not many people would be happy to say,"Been There,Done That!" Buttwo Cedarville alumni can now boast about experiencing life behind bars. On March 25,2000,Emily Wiljamaa'98(top)and Margaret Stowell Wheeler'64(bottom)spent a day in jail, and they don't even have criminal records. The inmate experience was part ofa training exercise for the Greene County Sheriff's Department. A new minimum-security adult detention facility has been built in Xenia,Ohio.Tip Link'85 is a lieutenant assigned to the jail section and is the physical skills instructor for the Sheriff's Office. In that capacity, Tip wanted the facility deputies to work out the operational procedures they had been learning on real people—volunteers acting as convicts—before the actual prisoners moved in. "Since February we have had a crew of about 20 deputies (including Cedarville alumnus Stephen Fields'91)working through developing operational procedures,"Tip explained. "Because most adults are hands-on learners,I thought it would be a great idea to work out procedures using volunteers." The mockjail experience involved 79 Cedarville College faculty, staff, alumni,and students. Finding volunteers at Cedarville was easy."I contacted Dr. Wiggins in social science and asked if he would be interested in having students and others serve as volunteer inmates," said Tip.An e-mail titled"A 24-Hour Jail Experience" was sent across campus. Once opened,in big letters across the top, were the words:An Opportunity To Go To Jail Without Getting A Record. That message generated much interest. 16 Spring