Field trip to prison helps Saugus kids

SAUGUS – Saugus school administrators and PTO members will be touring MCI-Cedar Junction, the state’s maximum security prison at Walpole, today to see their new program with inmates.”They are working with the inmates and teaching them public speaking to speak with students about the importance of good decision making,” Saugus Youth and Rec Director Greg Nickolas said at Tuesday’s youth commission meeting.School officials are hoping to develop a program where they send high school students there regularly to speak with the inmates.”Most of the people who are there are between the ages of 18 and 24 years old, and are there because of drug-related instances,” Nickolas said. “This shows the kids that people in jail are not crazy murderers. That they are people like me and you who made bad choices.”Nickolas would like to see Saugus become more active in drug prevention.”There are communities out there that are ahead of us,” he said. “However, we are getting there. People are starting to realize the impact it has on the community.”He credits the city of Lynn with their proactive approach when it comes to drug prevention.”They are really getting out and making a difference,” he said.Nickolas said the field trips high school students would make to the prison would not be a “scared straight” kind of program and that it would be more “educational.””Our goal is prevention,” he said.Sara Brown can be reached at [email protected].