Why this award-winning prison volunteer feels compelled to help

The winner of a national award for volunteering in prisons said she's seen first-hand that people can change and that inmates can benefit from a little kindness.

Alicia Mora, a third-year psychology student at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.,won theCorrectional Service of Canada's Taylor Award last month.

You're not just helpingthe offenders, you're also helping the community in the long run.- Alicia Mora

She helped start the Queen's Correctional Services Volunteersgroup, and for the last three years has ledart, writing and resum workshops at three local correctional institutions.

"If you enter it feeling scared, you're notgoing toaccomplish [as much as]if you go in feeling confident and knowing that you're there to purely try to make a difference," she toldCBC Radio'sOntario MorningWednesday.

"You're not just helpingthe offenders, you're also helping the community in the long run. Most offenders are released, and so it's what happens in an institution that can change their rehabilitation and reintegration."

Mora isnow the president of the prison volunteer group and manages its 24 other members.

People have an idea of what prison is like from pop culture, she said, but she's learned when you sit down with someone the environment is quitedifferent.

'People do change'

"People can make mistakes some really big, some really small and people do change," she said.

"I did a program for about a year, and seeing that progression within some of the offenders, how their feelings and aggression at the beginning slowly diminished over timeis really rewarding."

Mora, 21, said her late grandmother did similar work in Belgian prisons and she was one of her inspirations.

You can hear Mora's interview starting at 2:56 in the audio player.