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When George Mason �鶹���� junior Megan Miller toured the as part of her coursework, she didn’t realize she was being interviewed for an internship position. ��

���t was a tour group of about eight of us, and we went into it very excited. For once, I wasn’t shy; I was talkative and outgoing, which is good because they were essentially evaluating us to see if we’d be a good fit for the environment,” said Miller, who is a (CLS) student in the . �į

“No resumes were required. It was simply based on how we spoke and acted during the tour. I had never toured a jail before, but it was something that I was interested in because I do plan to work professionally in a prison or correctional facility one day,” she explained. ��

 Miller interned from August to December 2024 in the center’s classification department and worked with inmate visitation and reentry programs, such as the center’s GED courses. �į��

 “They have different tiers in the adult detention center. [For example] orange is [maximum] custody, blue is middle custody, and green is lower-level crime. The classification department ranks where inmates should be placed based on their crime and prior offenses,” explained Miller. ���t’s one of the most important jobs in the center, because if someone is classified wrong there could incidents that lead to injury or death because of it,” she said. ��

 As someone who hopes to work with inmates on their reintegration into society after incarceration, Miller said she was fascinated by the center’s mental health facility. 

��� think that having a mental health unit in any type of correctional facility is extremely beneficial,” said Miller. ��� hope to one day work with mentally ill inmates, evaluating their mental state and trying my best to understand mental illness and its correlation to crime.”��

 Miller obtained this internship as a result of CLS professor ’s CRIM 479 Introduction to Internship and CRIM 480 Internship courses. ��

 Dobson is also director of the department’s internship program.  ��

 “Students are much more likely to have jobs after graduation if they do an internship, and many times the internship itself turns into a full-time job. [In the course] we do all the foundational work of putting together strong resumes with transferable skills and working closely with George Mason’s because they've got lots of great resources for the students,” said Dobson. ��

 “Students will have a fixed idea of what they want to do, so I introduce them to different local, state, and federal options, and also nonprofit and private sector options. George Mason has a lot of great partners throughout the community for our students to reach out to,” Dobson said. ��

Miller said they attended the internship expo as a class and were given the opportunity to speak to different organizations including the Fairfax and Loudoun County sheriff' departments.  ��

��� took the most interest in the adult detention center because of the sergeants who were there speaking that day. My roommate and I gave them our names, and we actually did the internship together,” said Miller. ��

After she graduates, Miller hopes to continue her education at George Mason, earning her master’s degree in criminology, and become a full-time officer at the center.