HAGERSTOWN, MD - For the first time in a long time prison officials are giving the media a chance to see what goes on behind bars, and it's more than just being locked up.

The 24-hour operation houses about 2,000 inmates and 500 staff members.  It's almost like a mini city, and Warden Rod Sowers is the city's mayor.

He says, "There are a lot of misconceptions, rumors, negative that the public has.  One way to dispell that is open up the doors."

The Maryland Correctional Institution is one of three prisons in Hagerstown.  It operates on a budget of almost 60 million dollars.

An inmate cell is no bigger than a walk-in closet, but it's not where they have to spend most of their day.  Inmates have the chance to get an education and a job.

"The more education we can get these guys the less chance we'll have of getting them back," says Dave Cauffman, the principal of the MCI school.

Greg Haupt, the MCE regional manager, adds, "The main goal is rehabilitation of inmate workers, try to provide training and also reduce recidivism."

Statewide, Maryland Correctional Enterprises employs about 2000 inmates.  At MCI, 350 inmates are employed at eight different shops.

"It gives you basic life experiences and develops a work ethic that will allow you to go into society to maintain that same protocol," says Marion Dixon-Bey, an inmate.

Currently in the State of Maryland, for everyone two inmates that get released, one ends up back behind bars.  Prison officials say there's proof that inmates who work or get an education are less likely to return to prison.

Sowers explains, "It's our responsibility morally to provide them with an opportunity to change."

This year alone, 75 inmates earned their G.E.D., 36 received vocational certificates, and 210 earned literacy advancement certificates.