College of Justice & Safety Hosts Finnish Visitors
Eastern Kentucky University’s College of Justice & Safety will host a group of students and staff from the Prison Personnel Training Centre (PPTC) in Vantaa, Finland, May 16-24.
Activities for the group were organized by Dr. Chuck Fields, professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Police Studies, and Tommy Norris, associate director of Correctional Training Programs in the College’s Training Resource Center.
The 15 participating Finnish students, whose average age is 35, will graduate from the PPTC at the end of May. The students are currently employed by the Prison Service and, after graduation, they will return to their position in the prison where they work and subsequently apply for a post as Principal Officer.
The Prison Personnel Training Centre of Finland, founded in 1976, is an educational institution located in the second largest city in Finland. It provides the highest level of vocational and continuing education in correctional services for the entire personnel of the Finnish Prison and Probation Services.
The training centre staff members participating in the visit teach the basic and advanced examination programs. While here, the group will visit the Kentucky State Reformatory, the Kentucky Department of Corrections Training Academy in LaGrange, the Fayette County Division of Community Corrections and the Detention Center in Lexington. They will participate in several discussions in EKU’s College of Justice and Safety with interested faculty and students on future teaching/study exchange and research possibilities. Additionally, the group will attend a Lexington Legends baseball game and a live recording of the Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour at the Kentucky Theatre, visit a thoroughbred horse farm, spend an afternoon of racing at Churchill Downs, and tour the Woodford Reserve Distillery in Versailles.
Dr. Hannu Kiehelä, PPTC director, was unable to join the group, but he has visited the University four times previously as a guest of the College of Justice and Safety, lecturing and collaborating on numerous research and scholarly efforts with faculty. He has hosted Fields and a group of graduate students for a 10-day annual visit to the PPTC for past few years.
While in Finland, the EKU students and their Finnish hosts visit several prisons, both in Finland and Estonia, and attend lectures by academic and justice professionals from around Scandinavia, the Russian Republic, and the European Union, both at the PPTC and the Police College of Finland in Espoo.
Dr. Gary Cordner, former Dean of the College of Justice & Safety, and current Dean Dr. Allen Ault are providing support for the group’s visit through the College’s International Justice and Safety Institute. Cordner visited Finland in 2000 and helped formulate the basic goals and objectives for an exchange agreement (student and faculty teaching/research) between the College and the PPTC and Police College. This agreement, along with and justice studies, should be implemented soon.
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