MHCnews

Profiting from Nonprofit Prisons In August 1997, Mount Holyoke criminologist and MHC sociology professor Richard Moran wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times exploring the idea of nonprofit prisons. Since that time, Yale law professor John Simon organized a seminar on nonprofit law, and on May 3, a group of twenty representatives of the prison industry, the criminal justice system, and professors and students at Yale Law School came together for a day-long conference to discuss Moran's idea. At present, prisons are either run by the government or by for-profit corporations. According to Moran, exploring nonprofit prison management is "a way to eliminate the profit motive, to attract talent and innovation, and to bring a renewed sense of purpose to the criminal justice system." Yale will take up the notion of nonprofit prison management again this fall.

Web Recognition The April issue of Law and Order magazine has awarded second place in a national survey of college and university public safety sites to Mount Holyoke's Department of Public Safety Web pages. According to Paul Ominsky, director of public safety, credit for this honor goes primarily to Jeanne Murdock Tripp '90, senior administrative assistant for the department. According to Law and Order, the MHC site is "a very well done site that is a credit to the department and a service to the community that it serves." Ominsky praises Tripp, saying, "Our site is a result of Jeanne's creativity and hard work. We are all proud of the recognition she has received." The Rice University Police Department garnered first place in the magazine's survey. The Michigan State University Police Department placed third. Law and Order is a magazine concerned with police department management issues.