The Inside Outside

Bringing Mentorship, Encouragement and Hope to the Inside from the Outside.

What we do

Mentorship

Through written correspondence and telephone calls, we provide encouragement and mentorship to incarcerated individuals, to help find a higher purpose for themselves.

Books

Mentorship

We facilitate books to be sent in to facilities, to encourage growth and assist the incarcerated individual with expanding their horizons through literature.

Faith

Mentorship

Recovery

The Inside Outside does not promote any individual faith practices, but attempts to connect each incarcerated individual with the faith community of their choice.

Recovery

Higher Education

Recovery

We help connect incarcerated individuals to various recovery communities, and assist in providing them with the resources they need to seek recovery from Drugs & Alcohol.

Higher Education

We assist incarcerated individuals with G.E.D. preparation, FASFA documents, and connect them to schools in their area to prepare them for college once they are released.

Peer-Counseling

Higher Education

Through phone and letter correspondence, we attempt to connect certified or licensed volunteers with incarcerated individuals to help sort through the emotional struggles that might have led to incarceration.

Multi-Cultural

Connecting individuals with cultural groups on the outside, we help facilitate stronger societal bonds between incarcerated individuals, and those groups that they represent with. Our goal is to build community, regardless of the walls which might stand between us.

Who We Are

You!

The support of this project depends on volunteers and patrons like you!

Whether its donating supplies, sending books through our literature coordinator, becoming a pen-pal, or a mentor, we need your help. If you, or someone you know, is interested in helping this project, please click the link below.

Get Involved

Christopher 'Clint' Waggoner - Executive Director

Clint is a justice impacted individual who was released from the Washington State prison system in 2021. During his incarceration he sought to better understand his environment and the circumstances that led to his incarceration. By interviewing and collecting stories from hundreds of fellow inmates he began to develop an understanding of himself and the system he was in. It was there that he dedicated his second chance at freedom to a life of advocacy, mentorship, and the encouragement of growth for all those who were still incarcerated. He left the prison system with a binder full of hand-written testimonials from inmates.

Upon release, he immediately founded a project called The Inside Outside. His mission was simple; to provide inspiration and encouragement to those who were still incarcerated, and to attempt to influence society's perception of those individuals by sharing those testimonials and experiences. Clint has corresponded with hundreds of incarcerated individuals in more than 30 states.

He is a published author, having some of his prison writings recognized by literary organizations such as Rattle, and Blended. He is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society as well as being recognized as a President’s Scholar at The Olympic College. He helps acclimate previously incarcerated students to campus life.

He volunteers his time with various addiction recovery programs. He regularly gives presentations to community organizations to educate on Re-Entry and Addiction. He also regularly presents his story to recovering addicts in various treatment facilities, to provide inspiration and hope to the still suffering addict and justice impacted individuals.

Karl Urseth- Board of Directors

Karl is originally from the Midwest and moved to Washington when he was in the 9th grade and graduated from Lake Washington High School in Kirkland. Karl graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor's degree in Political Science. He then got a master's degree in education from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

He has done doctoral level work in addiction psychology. His therapeutic orientations are psychodynamic and psychoeducational.

Karl has functioned as a Co-Occurring Disorder (COD) counselor at several treatment facilities, working with clients suffering from severe mental health and substance use disorders. He worked as a domestic violence advocate. Karl's further work experience includes most levels of care in substance abuse treatment and finds that work rewarding.

Morgan Denton- Board of Directors

Dina Pyle -Board of Directors

(Open Position) -Director for Recovery Operations

We are seeking someone who has a general knowledge of recovery programs to be able to coordinate the contact of our incarcerated individuals with the appropriate recovery network.

Must be willing to gain a basic understanding of multiple programs.

(Open Position) - Director of Faith Services

We are seeking a coordinator who is knowledgeable in a variety of faith backgrounds, who can coordinate inmates of various faiths to our partnering organizations.

This person would be in charge of relaying initial contact from the incarcerated person to that appropriate organization.

(Open Position) - Director of Cultural Services

We are seeking someone who can facilitate the connection between incarcerated individuals on the inside, with the cultural groups that they identify with on the outside.

This position will allow someone the opportunity to create relationships with new organizations across the country.