Mia Mirassou and Jim Micheletti founded the book club called "Exercises In Empathy." Micheletti said students would go into the prison afraid but would leave with a new perspective on the incarcerated men. 

Former inmate Jason Bryant who participated in the book club said that the discussions went beyond plot lines and protagonists.
"It was incredibly refreshing to have young men come into a space with us and see us as what we are, which is people," Bryant said.
When he was 20 years old, Bryant was sentenced to 26 years to life for his involvement in a 1999 robbery that resulted in a shooting death.

Behind bars, Bryant was looking for ways to be of service. It was at the book club that he heard about Ernest Gordon's "Miracle On The River Kwai." In the book, prisoners of war created a culture of sacrifice and they called it "mucking" for each other...read more + see video