Cell Door Magazine - Piecing Togeter a College Education Behind Bars by Jon Marc Taylor

Jon Marc Taylor #503273

1115 E, Pence Road

Cameron, Missouri 64429

Prisoners' GUERRILLA HANDBOOK To Correspondence Programs in the U.S. & Canada

PMB 103 BOX 1305

Brunswick, ME 04011

$24.95 + shipping

This four-part series will set forth the reasons why to pursue the personal quest for a college education, how equivalency-credit programs can accelerate the pace while decreasing the costs, where end-of-course exams and credit bank schools can coalesce your divergent academic experiences, and putting it all together by filling in the blanks with life-experience credits and relatively ridiculously inexpensive correspondence courses to fulfill your chosen curriculum.

THE VALUE OF EDUCATION

A wise man once advised: "If you want to make the world a better place, begin by making yourself a better person." To begin that process behind bars, you must start by reconstructing your self-worth, devastated by the series of poor personal decisions, compiled by systemic devaluing abuses leading to this position in your life.

The single most significant program to transport you on this journey of self-discovery, individual revelation, and even personal transformation is that of education. Beyond the minimum necessary achievement of a High School (GED) diploma to function in today's economy, the earning of a college degree is not only your best chance to stay out after release, but also to qualify for a decent job and equip yourself with the qualities for successful societal integration.

Half-a-dozen years ago, most DOC-systems offered on-site higher education opportunities. Then, in its infinite moronic wisdom, Congress barred prisoners from receiving their chief tuition funding source of Pell higher education grants. The immediate results mere the closing of half the prison college classes across the country, and the reduction of opportunities in most of the surviving programs as well. Today the only access the majority of convicts have to post-secondary education is by the distance education options of traditional correspondence classes, less well known university end-of-course exams, and nearly secret equivalency tests.

The following articles of this series present the options mentioned and procedures to pursue your higher education behind bars. Moreover, the guiding principle in this educational opportunity outline is to keep the process as cheap as possible. Without the financial hand-up from Uncle Sam, this series will show you the least expensive means to a college degree. This article, however, reinforces the efficacy of Post-Secondary Correctional Education (PSCE) in your life.

RECIDIVISM:

The most often cited value of PSCE programming is that it lowers the likelihood of returning to prison... a lot. basically, recidivism drops from seven-out-of-ten parolees being rearrested to re-incarcerated to twenty percent or less for those earning an Associate (2-year) degree or more. The sidebar lists two decades of PSCE recidivism studies consistently reporting "statistically significant" reductions in recidivism, tar. Robert Ross of the University of Ottawa, analyzing prison college programs in his article, "Behavioral Approaches to the Treatment in Corrections: A Requiem for a Panacea, " sums up these studies by observing that "nowhere else in the literature of [correctional programming] can one find such impressive results with the recidivistic adult offender."

EMPLOYMENT:

Parole Officers identify unemployment as a prime factor in recidivism. Less than half of ex-offenders, on average, find steady employment when paroled. Every study that has looked at the issue has found that college-educated ex-offenders are by far (75%) those who do find steady employment. Besides overcoming the stigmatization of being an ex-felon, the majority of jobs in today's service economy require the skills of a college educated person. Without the credential of a degree, or at least some post-secondary course completions, menial work at minimum wages is the most likely option for the ex-con.

EARNINGS:

In today's workplace, only those who earn at least some college education or training are going to find employment that supports a decent standard of living. For John Q. Citizen, the average annual rate of return on the money and time invested in four years of college is about eleven percent. For the paroled prisoner it is immeasurably greater! In 2000, the average salary for a worker with a Bachelor (4-year) degree exceeds $30, 000.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON:

The most important reason why to purse a college education is how it will make you feel. Regardless of the date you walk out of the prison sally port to freedom, increasing your knowledge will make you feel better about yourself, and as your self concept, confidence and esteem grow, how you feel about and treat others will improve too. The most important aspect imparted by higher education is that you will, learn how to analyze, reason, and think for yourself in any situation. It is a powerfully liberating tool that can never be taken from you; it can only be ceded by your choice not to utilize those skills.

NOT TO MENTION THE BENEFITS FOR SOCIETY:

What all of these values of PSCE impart upon the ex-con mean to society is reduced crime and thus safer communities; economic stimulation provided by better educated, productive, and higher paid workers; and the conversion of the tax liability of publicly supported prisoners to that of taxpayers. Simply put, the average income of a college graduate, compared to that of a high school one, creates thousands of dollars more in annual tax revenue. Beyond these quantifiable proceeds, the transformative effect of higher education in the evolution of a rare, rational and informed citizen only strengthens a democratic society.

For more information on the efficacy and efficiency of Post-Secondary Correctional Education, see the sidebar for additional resources. The next article in this series covers the value arid various types of equivalency examination programs that are recognized for college-level credit by more than two thousand universities and colleges in North America.

Jon -Marc Taylor receives the Robert F. Kennedy and Nation/I.F. Stone Journalism Awards for his reporting on "Pell Grants for Prisoners," and is the author oŁ the Prisoners' GUERRILLA HANDBOOK to Correspondence Programs in the U. S. PA Canada: $23.95 (-$3.00 discount for prisoners) from Audenreed Press, PMB 103 / POB 1305, Brunswick, ME 04011 Phone: 1 (888) 315-0582

1974: Burlington County College of New Jersey prison college programs
10% program recidivism rate compared to 80% national rate.

1976: Alexander City State Junior College prison college program:
16% program recidivism rate compared to 70-75% national rate.

1979: Maryland Correctional Training Center's PSCE programs:
"positive effect in reducing recidivism among participants."

1979: State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania PSCE:
"inmate students with the highest risk of recidivism experienced a statistically significant (at the .05 level) reduction in recidivism when compared to the control group of 108 variables."

1980: Texas Department of Correction Treatment Directorate:
"participation in the junior college program definitely results in
lower recidivism rates."

1981: University of Victoria of Canada prison college programs:
14% program recidivism rate compared to 52% of matched group.

1983: Folsom prison college program:
0% baccalaureate program recidivism rate compared to 24% standard first year recidivism rate.

1983: New Mexico State Penitentiary college program:
11% program recidivism rate compared to 68% overall recidivism rate.

1986: Lebanon Correctional Institution of Ohio college programs
11% program recidivism rate compared to 30% H.S. dropout rate.

1986: Boston University of Massachusetts prison college program:
0% baccalaureate recidivism rate.

1990: Lorton Prison of the District of. Columbia college program:
6% program recidivism rate compared to 40% average rate.

1991: New York Department of Correctional Services PSCE programs:
26% program recidivism rate compared to 44% overall rate.

1994: "Recidivism Among Federal Prisoners Released in 1987"
5% earning college degree recidivate compared to 40% overall.

1995: Texas Department of Corrections Windham School District Analysis:
Recidivism rates of various degree levels: Associate 13.7% /
Baccalaureate 5.6% / Masters 0%.

*******************
Sidebar #2

PSCE PROGRAM INFORMATIONAL SOURCES:

"Education as Crime Prevention: Providing education to prisoners"
Research Brief #12
(free)
Center on Crime, Communities & Culture
400 West 59th Street
New York, NY 1001
212-548-0600

"What Works in reducing recidivism, and thereby reducing crime, and cost"
&
"The Pay-Back in reducing recidivism, and thereby reducing crime, and cost"
( free )
CURE-NY
Box 102
Katonah, NY 10536

"PSCE: An Evaluation of Effectiveness & Efficiency"
Journal of Correctional Education, Vol 43, No. 3.
($5.00)
Correctional Education Association
4380 Forbes Blvd
Lanham, MD 20706
1 (800) 783-1232

Higher Education in Prison: A Contradiction of Terms?
($38.50)
Oryx Press
4041 North Central Avenue
Suite 700
Phoenix, AZ 85012-3397
1-800-279-6799