ELIZABETHTOWN, PA (02/09/2012)– “Inmates, Media and Life on the Farm,” is an insider’s look at what was once considered the bloodiest prison in the South. Dr. Kalen Churcher’s talk, at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, at Elizabethtown College’s Bowers Writers House, shows the penitentiary through the eyes of the inmates, using, appropriately, many of their own words and images. The presentation is sponsored by the Bowers Writers House and the College’s Communications and Sociology departments.

The inmates featured in Churchers’s discussion are members of the prison’s press, cable TV station and Federal Communications Commission-licensed radio station. Their goal is to inform their incarcerated peers and educate the public on the U.S. penal system, Louisiana law (which in some ways parallels Pennsylvania law) and the idea of rehabilitation versus retribution.

Churcher is assistant professor of Communication Studies at Niagara University. She earned a doctoral degree from Pennsylvania State University. She was a newspaper reporter with the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Contact: Kelly Poniatowski at poniatowskik@etown.edu or 717-361-1371.

Bowers Writers House at Elizabethtown College, 840 College Hill Lane, was created with a generous gift by Kenneth L. ’59 and Rosalie E. ’58 Bowers to support a culture of creative curiosity and foster a new sense of excitement and enthusiasm for intellectual diversity. The Bowers Writers House is an interdisciplinary venue for presentation, performance, expression and study. The programs-from dramatic readings to interactive panels to musical performances-offer a dynamic variety of enjoyable and informative experiences. Visit www.etown.edu/centers/writershouse.