BRUNSWICK — The picturesque town of Brunswick is home to many points of interest. Some are easily identified, such as the various beaches, Bowdoin College and the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. But there is at least one point of interest that's not found on any map.

College Guild is a nationwide organization, founded in 2001, "around a Maine kitchen table," according to co-founder Julie Zimmerman. The program relies entirely on volunteers to participate in educational correspondences with prisoners. College Guild's single office is maintained in an undisclosed location in Brunswick.

The mission of College Guild is "to stimulate in prisoners an interest in lifelong learning by providing a selection of free, non-traditional correspondence courses," according to Zimmerman, who still runs the office.

The courses are designed to be both thought provoking and fun, while also encouraging objectivity and creativity. For many prisoners, College Guild courses are the only contact they have beyond prison walls, Zimmerman said.

The program currently serves over 400 active students, with over 5,200 prisoners having participated in College Guild since its inception in 2001.

The correspondences are completely anonymous, with everyone involved identified by only their first names. Readers, who range from high school students, to active professionals, to retirees, can also choose pseudonyms if they prefer.

While there are a number of educational programs for prisoners in the United States, most are accredited and therefore subject to both eligibility and availability. There are a variety of reasons a prisoner may be deemed ineligible for accredited educational programs, including having received a death sentence, life sentence or being placed in solitary confinement.

For those deemed ineligible due to their sentence, Zimmerman said it's usually considered a matter of cost-effectiveness for providing education to prisoners who will never have the chance to use it outside of the department of corrections.

College Guild was founded on the idea that every prisoner not only deserves educational opportunities, but that those opportunities stand to help not only the prisoners, but those charged with caring for them, Zimmerman said.

"To me, even those two groups [those sentenced to life or death,] even if they're not getting out, by giving them something positive to do, they may be less inclined to be violent," she said.

Even if a prisoner is within a prison population allowed accredited classes, some without a high school diploma or GED can also be deemed ineligible.

The idea was based on the premise that "when prisoners are given the opportunity, and encouragement to pursue ongoing learning, it benefits both the prisoners and their various communities," according to the 'College Guild Story.'

The organization offers educational programs to all prisoners, regardless of sentence length, isolation, or crimes committed. Because the program is run almost entirely by volunteers (there is a lone paid employee who helps run the Brunswick office) and takes place exclusively via letters, it is open to all.

There are roughly 400 prisoners on the waiting list, according to Zimmerman. Though the start of the the school year brings new readers, College Guild is always in need of new readers, and volunteers to help run the office.

Newly added readers from Bowdoin College has led a number of prisoners to be taken off the wait-list.

"We'll probably be able to take 100 [prisoners] off of the waiting list," Zimmerman said of the influx of readers.

Other colleges have expressed interest in setting up satellite programs for College Guild at their campuses, including Boston University, Bates College, and Bowdoin.

For prisoners, participating in the program at all can be a big leap of faith. "So many of our students have had bad experiences in school, and here they are, reaching out to total strangers. It takes a tremendous amount of courage," Zimmerman said. "They don't know what they're going to get on the other side of that letter."

Sometimes prisoners may worry about having English as their second language and the criticisms they may receive as a result. For others, leaving school early can make seeking educational opportunities especially daunting.

"We had one student who dropped out in [the] third grade, that was the earliest," Zimmerman said. However, students who dropped out in fifth or sixth grade are common, she said.

It's not merely a matter of finding the courage to begin, Zimmerman noted that prisoners have to be self-starters to be part of the program. Without anyone offering encouragement, the desire to learn must be strong. The self-reliance hasn't dissuaded participants though. "A few of our [students] have actually formed study groups," Zimmerman said.

While the program is nationwide, Zimmerman said certain states have higher presences in College Guild than other areas. Texas and California have a larger number of participants than other states, while the northeast has comparatively less, she said.

"We've got a particularly large group in isolation in Pelican Bay State Prison. Participating in the program can be especially challenging to those kept in isolation. Some [prisoners] in solitary don't even have books," Zimmerman said. "One person told us he had to trade his lunch for paper. It's not easy for them to do this, they have to really care about wanting to learn."

Even for those dedicated to the program, there are often challenges to participating. For the many prisoners without family, friends or any other supports, they may be given just five stamps and envelopes for an entire month. Any correspondence, including correspondence with legal aid, must come from that supply. While the cost of stamps and envelopes may seem marginal, for those who may be making a couple of dollars per month, if anything at all, the costs can prove prohibitive.

In addition to being run by volunteers, the College Guild relies on donations to assist prisoners who might not otherwise be able to participate. These donations are used for things like stamps, envelopes and dictionaries.

The program has been met with positive reviews from both readers and students, as well as interest from other states.

Both North and South Carolina have been in touch with College Guild, Zimmerman said, explaining that the Education Department for the Department of Corrections is hearing from "more and more prisons asking to use our programs."

Elsewhere, College Guild has already been embraced. One unnamed sheriff's office, who is responsible for 1,500 prisoners, is using the program with their own volunteers, Zimmerman said.

There are a wide variety of units for prisoners to choose from, all of which were created by volunteers. Some of these courses include journalism, creative language, greek mythology and families. The units themselves are comprised of 15 parts, each reviewed by a volunteer reader.

With over 25 units available, the subjects are as varied as their creators.

"We had a physics student from Bowdoin create a physics course," she said, "he actually had quite a few devoted students."

As for the impact of the program, the countless testimonials from current and former students prove the importance of College Guild and its volunteers.

One prisoner, identified as 'D,' credited College Guild with offering more than educational opportunities.

"Unless you've been where I am sitting (not recommended,) you can't grasp the magnitude and impact of everything I get from College Guild, but I assure you that I, and many others like me, would be in a much worse place than my work with CG has enabled me to be," they said.

Another student, 'T' said he'll be sure to thank College Guild when he becomes a successful writer. "I'll mention that it all started because you cared; you cared about men who wanted to be more than their crime."

While the gravity of the program on the lives of students is undeniable, they are far from the only beneficiaries in College Guild.

Readers have relayed overwhelmingly positive experiences as result of their involvement with the organization. One in particular, a journalist identified as 'C' wrote about what their involvement in the program has added to their own life.

"We nourish but in turn are nourished by our students. We receive inspiration from our students. In addition, they entertain and amuse us as they reveal their own unique giftedness. It is a pleasure to be involved in this very important rehabilitation work. I hope that College Guild will become more and more active, drawing in many other persons from the outside community."

For Zimmerman, and the hundreds of inmates waiting for new readers, that hope is a shared one.

Erica Thoms can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com