SOMERS, Conn. (AP) — Imprisoned for killing a man, Edward White initially feared retaliation when he learned a fellow inmate was his victim's nephew.

For a time, the inmate stopped speaking with White. But he ultimately offered forgiveness, an act that White credits to the peer counseling program through which they met.

"Prison logic will tell you it's supposed to become violent," said White, 35. "If we didn't have the opportunity to meet in the program, who knows how he would have reacted."

White told his story one day last week to visitors including Connecticut's top federal prosecutor and s...