Rotarian Sidney Kopp outlined his 33-year career in federal corrections, which followed six years of service in the U.S. Air Force. He began working for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1982. With 145 federal prisons in the U.S., Guam and Germany, Kopp spent most of his career at the Federal Correction Institution (FCI) in Talladega, Ala. This facility was completed in 1979 and built to house 458 inmates. Recently, it has housed as many as 1,600 inmates. It began as a medium-security prison for primarily white-collar felons.

Talladega is not a penitentiary that houses hard-core prisoners who have nothing to loose; however, the overall prison population has changed. There are about 190,000 federal prisoners, with drug offenders being the largest group, followed by those convicted of weapons charges and illegal immigrants. The federal prison system is controlled by the U.S. Attorney General's Office. All prisoners have jobs—some have skills that are utilized in the prison system. All medical needs are provided—prisoners must stay healthy in order to serve their sentence (if a prisoner dies, it’s in a hospital).

Kopp was one of two Alabama immigration officers for the national immigration department that monitored illegal immigrants, mostly from Cuba. He made 45 trips to Cuba in order to return Cuban prisoners.

Pictured (left to right): Club President Debbie Shaw, Sidney Kopp and program host Carolyn Williamson