Page 22 - 8.2016 Voices

NOT SO. . .

by Ron Edgemon, DTM
Club President, Capital Toastmasters

In the June issue it is our club members and executive body that
of Voices! there was run our club. Being incarcerated we don’t have
an article titled Prison Internet access, so staff at the prison assist us with
Toastmasters Clubs Teach Skills those things. As one of our outside members,
Useful for Job Search. In the article, the author Janice Hallmark, stated in her article for the July
wrote about her experiences with Toastmasters issue of our newsletter ‘Capital News’, “When
clubs inside prisons in eastern Massachusetts Allan Edinger talked me into attending that first
and Rhode Island. The author stated, “When I meeting, I didn’t plan on anything more than
go into the maximum security prison they have that. My understanding was that I was there to
no idea what teamwork is. They do everything ‘help’ with the meeting.” She goes on to say, “I,
alone. They wait for things to be done for them. who was supposed to teach you, have learned so
Toastmasters offers regular practice to develop much more than you will ever know.”
new ways of thinking, speaking and working.”
As a Toastmasters member that is also a We are very fortunate in that Janice’s
prisoner, I am grateful that there are people comment is similar to what other guests and
willing to visit Toastmasters clubs in prisons. community members often tell us. It goes back
I’ve been incarcerated for 19 plus years, 17 of to people helping people, where we get feedback
which have been at the maximum security and ideas for improvement from guests and
Oregon State Penitentiary, and 16 plus years guests often saying that they like something we
with Capital Toastmasters. I can’t speak for the are doing and plan to implement what we do
author’s experiences in Toastmasters clubs in into their club. None of that would be possible
eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but I if it weren’t for skills people come to our club
can speak from my personal experience with with as well as skills they learn from our club.
prison Toastmasters clubs here in Oregon. I’d
like to share my experiences with you as they As I look at our membership, some are college
differ some from the author’s experiences. educated, some are going to college, some are
One thing I realized years ago is that prison former military personnel, some have prior
is comprised of all sorts of people with varying business experience, and others do not have such
backgrounds and skills. We have people who,
for whatever reasons, have never held a job in
society, people that were successful professionals
in corporate America, and all in between. As a
result of the different varieties of people and the
life experiences they had prior to their incar-
ceration, prison is filled with people of different
skills. With that in mind, I do not agree with the
statement that prisoners “have no idea what
teamwork is. They do everything alone. They
wait for things to be done for them.” To me, that
lumps everyone in the same basket. For some
people in prison the statement is true, just as it
is for some in society. For others, it is not the
case at all.
One of the things I often say is that
Toastmasters is people helping people. While our
club does receive support from Toastmasters in
the community who visit, or whom are members,

22 Volume 3 Issue 2 - AUGUST 2016