“The Project for Older Prisoners (POPS) encompasses a number of prison projects in which students are involved as volunteers or work for academic credit. Some students assist individual low-risk prisoners over the age of 55 to help them obtain paroles, pardons, or alternative forms of incarceration. In a typical case, a student will prepare an extensive background report on a prisoner to determine the likelihood of recidivism. If the risk is low, the student will then locate housing and support for the prisoner and help prepare the case for a parole hearing. Other students are involved in a Prison Environmentalism project that is working to introduce recycling and environmental industries in prisons. POPS also runs a “Books for Crooks” program to help build prison libraries, while another project involves students in a study of the federal prison system and the sentencing guidelines for the U.S. Sentencing Commission.”
http://www.law.gwu.edu/Academics/EL/clinics/Pages/POPS.aspx