Inmates Join Boy Scouts

(La Grange, Kentucky) In a rehabilitation program at the Kentucky State Reformatory, inmates who have a mental or emotional age of 18 or younger are allowed to join the Boy Scouts. A good idea? Well, some people think so.

William Hiemstra, a tattooed 32-year-old serving 10 years for attempted murder, said the program is teaching him to work better with other people.

"That was always a problem I had," Hiemstra said.

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For others, like former paramedic Paul Hurt, who is serving three life sentences for sodomy, or Marion Butler, who is serving a 95-year sentence for murder and burglary in Johnson County, the Boy Scouts is a way to occupy some time that might otherwise not be well spent.

"It kind of tames the beast," Hurt said. "I want to see the other guys succeed."

The Kentucky prison scout program, which started in 1989 as a way for prisoners to raise money and to keep inmates occupied, is part of what corrections officials call a national move toward preparing inmates for their eventual release from prison.

Teaching inmates solid core values is surely beneficial, but expecting a convicted murderer to complete a 95 year sentence and return to society as a Boy Scout might be unreasonably optimistic.