When George Mason ĢAV junior Megan Miller toured the as part of her coursework, she didn’t realize she was being interviewed for an internship position.
t was a tour group of about eight of us, and we went into it very excited. For once, I wasn’t shy; I was talkative and outgoing, which is good because they were essentially evaluating us to see if we’d be a good fit for the environment,” said Miller, who is a (CLS) student in the . į
“No resumes were required. It was simply based on how we spoke and acted during the tour. I had never toured a jail before, but it was something that I was interested in because I do plan to work professionally in a prison or correctional facility one day,” she explained.
Miller interned from August to December 2024 in the center’s classification department and worked with inmate visitation and reentry programs, such as the center’s GED courses. į
“They have different tiers in the adult detention center. [For example] orange is [maximum] custody, blue is middle custody, and green is lower-level crime. The classification department ranks where inmates should be placed based on their crime and prior offenses,” explained Miller. t’s one of the most important jobs in the center, because if someone is classified wrong there could incidents that lead to injury or death because of it,” she said.
As someone who hopes to work with inmates on their reintegration into society after incarceration, Miller said she was fascinated by the center’s mental health facility.
think that having a mental health unit in any type of correctional facility is extremely beneficial,” said Miller. hope to one day work with mentally ill inmates, evaluating their mental state and trying my best to understand mental illness and its correlation to crime.”
Miller obtained this internship as a result of CLS professor ’s CRIM 479 Introduction to Internship and CRIM 480 Internship courses.
Dobson is also director of the department’s internship program.
“Students are much more likely to have jobs after graduation if they do an internship, and many times the internship itself turns into a full-time job. [In the course] we do all the foundational work of putting together strong resumes with transferable skills and working closely with George Mason’s because they've got lots of great resources for the students,” said Dobson.
“Students will have a fixed idea of what they want to do, so I introduce them to different local, state, and federal options, and also nonprofit and private sector options. George Mason has a lot of great partners throughout the community for our students to reach out to,” Dobson said.
Miller said they attended the internship expo as a class and were given the opportunity to speak to different organizations including the Fairfax and Loudoun County sheriff' departments.
took the most interest in the adult detention center because of the sergeants who were there speaking that day. My roommate and I gave them our names, and we actually did the internship together,” said Miller.
After she graduates, Miller hopes to continue her education at George Mason, earning her master’s degree in criminology, and become a full-time officer at the center.