On a bright sunny day, red and yellow stone buildings sit at the perimeter of an electric green grass courtyard – such a quintessential picture of 1930s architecture that it could nearly be a polaroid from the facility’s opening in 1932.
Inside, it’s hot and muggy. There is no air conditioning, but the black framed windows are cracked open while fans whir. Residents’ cells line the walls at the back of the first and second floor. The dorm also sports a small library, a common room with payphones and a large recreation room – walls painted baby blue.
Nicholas Lunceford sits at a table playing chess with his fellow resident, Zachary Trayler.
Lunceford and Trayler are just two of the 92 residents of the Algoa Honor Dorm, which opened about two years ago. It’s a lower security dorm with no guard on duty where residents get additional privileges like family visits, nicer jobs and more flexibility in setting their own schedules.
According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, the residents also set their own house rules and manage conflict resolution, scheduling, cleaning and maintenance.
To be eligible, residents have to meet a series of requirements. They must go two years with no conduct violations and three years with no major conflicts. Residents must be enrolled in an education program or have a job. Lastly, they must complete either a class – such as anger management or impact of crime on victims – or 90 hours of restorative justice, which is essentially community service.
At Algoa Correctional, all honor dorm residents are required to be less than 12 years from release.
“My experience in the honor dorm has been great,” Kenneth Clayton, another honor dorm resident, said. “I've been down for quite a while now. And being able to be in an environment like this really – It lays a foundation to help you transition back into the community.”
Kenneth says he’s been living in the dorm since 2022 after spending ten years in Missouri's one other honor dorm, Northeast Correctional Center.
“You know, I'm a man,” Clayton said. “And I'm at a point in my life, where I want to be responsible for my growth, for my accomplishments, for my family, the way that I answer back into the community, these are the things that I want to be responsible for.”
Since living in the honor dorm, Clayton has earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees in communications and sociology. Residents have the opportunity to take courses at ten different universities, including Ashland University and Central Methodist University.
Clayton is not alone. Prison leadership said many of the honor dorm residents are working on developing skills for success needed for life after prison.
Zachary Trayler also lives in the honor dorm and says the prison also hosts events like family picnics, which have helped him reconnect with his mom and siblings.
“Being over here, it helps – they've seen the difference in me since I've been down,” Trayler said. “But like I said, it just helps when you're in a positive environment like this, you want to be better, you want to do good.”
Each of these men are counting down to their release dates, building skills and developing a clearer picture of what life after incarceration will look like for them. But for now, they’ll continue playing chess and enjoying the privileges they’ve earned.
