Summary, Question 10: Re-entry and Transition Programs
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Question 10. Related to Release and Transition Programs.
Hello Colleagues, I would like our guests -- and others -- to explore some other challenging questions:
1. One of the characteristics of a successful prison education program (Gerber and Fritsch, and Luiden and Perry) is follow-up with inmates after release. Can you describe some models that do this well, and that lead to released prisoners continuing their education in the community?
2. Do you know of examples of prisons or jails that invite community education programs to provide basic education inside so that when inmates are released there is continuity with the community education program outside? Can you tell us about how the model(s) works?
3. Is there any way that a web-based learning system could be offered to prisoners for self study inside that they could continue to use outside in a library, community technology center or at a community education program? I know that prisons and jails cannot offer Internet access, but are there any examples of a version of a web site being run on an internal server, in the prison, offering (nearly) the same experience as the user would have with internet access to the web site? -- David Rosen --
Ann Burruss aburruss2@cox.net
In response to David’s second question: We, in Gloucester County, VA work in the local jail. The educational program is carried out by the Literacy Volunteers of Gloucester. The programs offered are ABE and preparation for the GED. On some rare occasions, a counselor comes in from the nearest community college and gives placement test for those who are "short-timers" and who wish to pursue their education upon release. One one visit, an inmate actually began her course of study prior to release and went into the community college classes for which she was enrolled.
In the past, we had to wait for extended periods for GED testing to take place. We are now a test center, so are more successful with GED certificates being earned. Even when an inmate lacked only one test for completion, we have had little success with that person continuing his or her studies "on the street". We have had more success with those individuals who were enrolled in Basic Education classes - particularly those whose primary desire was to assist young school age children with reading and math. They will continue until their level is about equivalent to grade 5 thru 8.
On 2 occasions, in the 3 years that I have done this program, inmates have been very anxious to obtain the GED so that upon transferring to one of the State penitentiaries, college level classes could be pursed without delay.
Carole Scholl, Manager, Londer Learning Center, Multnomah County Department of Community Justice 503-988-6828
In Portland Oregon, the Londer Learning Center is a unit of adult community corrections (the Multnomah County Department of Community Justice). Our GED/ABE/ESL program each year serves 500+ adults who are released from jail, prison and who on probation and/or involved in substance abuse treatment. Referrals come from POs, treatment centers, courts and caseworkers.
We are successful in academics, as well as in reducing recidivism. Some reasons for our success:
1. We only serve offenders who are at high- to medium-risk to reoffend. These adults in "transition" who work toward positive goals with other adults in transition. We also incorporate rehabilitation practices in our adult education program. Teachers are all trained in motivational interviewing, change theory (stages of change) and cognitive behavioral change--evidenced based practices used in corrections. We provide a "holistic" approach--communicating often with POs, counselors and caseworkers.
2. All staff is trained in working with adults with learning disabilities/difficulties, and we keep classes small. In sum: most of our students would not succeed if they went from jail/prison to a community college. Upon release they face numerous obstacles (housing, addictions rehab, etc). Just to make it onto a campus which accepts students 2 or 3x a term is daunting.
I certainly recommend community-based transitions education programs for incarcerated adults, but also feel that success lies in partnership with probation offices, an awareness of learning disabilities, and training in psycho-social factors than influence change. For more information about the Londer Learning Center, please go to our website at: http://www.co.multnomah.or.us/dcj/acjlonder.shtml
Bill Muth
I am impressed by the ReEntry practices reported on by Carole Scholl in Oregon, Cay Buser in Maryland, Taylor Stoehr in Massachusetts & John Gordon in NYC. I mostly know programs based on the inside (which of course reveals a key problem: the need for programs that span both sides of the fence.) The Federal Bureau of Prisons is working on a Re-entry partnership with Federal Probation and the US Department of Labor and piloting it in the St. Louis area. Sylvia McCollum at the FBOP has developed a broad network of community partnerships, mostly relating to job fairs. Also, the national Institute of Corrections has done a great deal of training in this area. See http://www.nicic.org/CommunityCorrections
The best example of a community partnership related to pre and post release that I can give no longer exists (just one example of a powerful program that vaporized when Pell Grants were cut off): It was a program at Marist College, NY. They provided a full range of literacy and post-secondary programs. Marist also had a college coordinator (Benay Rubenstein, who continues to do extraordinary work through John Jay College) housed in the prison (Otisville) who arranged for learners to continue their education at Marist after release.
Today, most federal prisons have strong partnerships with the community, including individual contractors, local colleges and trade unions, and faith based communities. But I suspect, at least as it pertains to federal prisoners, that few of these partnerships establish relationships with individuals on the inside and then nurture these relationships on the outside. (I know that some such programs exist, especially with faith-based groups, but not aware of any programs that provide education support to individuals on the inside and then support them through the transition to the outside. (If such inside/outside programs exist, I would love to know about them!) This is a huge problem in the federal system, since so many prisoners live 100s of miles from home...
Regarding Internet access, I see some signs of hope here. The FBOP has been slowly experimenting with web-based applications. For example they are providing inmate law library services through an intra-net server that goes out to the web periodically, downloads files and distributes material via a closed system. They are also piloting e-mail systems at a few institutions, and, as I mentioned yesterday, they have begun some father -child video-conferencing. The federal prison systems is slowly rethinking safe ways to use technology. But it is a slow evolution. Ironically, as correspondence courses continue to proliferate via the internet, prisoners have access to fewer of them.
Gina Lobaccaro (DOC) Gina.Lobaccaro@state.de.us
Bill... I enjoyed this post very much... perhaps I can find a job in the federal system when I can retire from here. I keep hearing hints that there is something going on in Delaware with more Intranet based teaching/learning... but no one has told me the details. One of the prison programs has been piloting it. I think it is for GED students. I heard that it only worked with very highly motivated students. That is all I recall, but perhaps I need to ask!
A question for others---- Have you found ways to bring the Net to the students. I use a Blue Squirrel product called Web Whacker that will copy a page and a number of layers behind it (1-3 perhaps but if you go farther it doesn't seem to work.. and you risk picking up some risky sites accidently in the grab). I was also told about a Adobe program that would capture a site and layers on to a PDF file.. I don't remember the details.... I have permission now to bring in a jump drive. So I can bring the sites in from home and put them on student computers. Right now I have two computers in my office.. one for the Internet provided by DOC.. and I cannot put any of my software on it.. the other is not connected yet, but I might be able to get connected without the state software (DOC software and Outlook)... but be able to use some of the programs to gather sites while at work... instead of on my time.
Tiffany Johnson, Victoria College Adult Education-Corrections
First of all, this discussion is an excellent spotlight on correctional education. It is always positive when there are others who can relate to your issues. Since our program is a correctional program and not really a prison program, there are few people who can understand some of our unique problems.
We are a small county jail program in Texas that is sponsored by the adult education grant at the local community college. We service the students who have a below 12.9 reading, writing, and/or mathematics score on a standardized test; however, the program is voluntary and we have certain restrictions. They stay with our program until they are either released to the local area or sent to the prison system. We have a statewide education system here in Texas at the prison level that will continue their education. Our problems are usually dealing with the unpredictable time they will stay in our classes (average stay is 3-6 months), officer relationships with inmates and instructors, and the image that correctional education has with the public.
However, in my years working with the incarcerated, the most positive aspect is the flexibility. We can arrange classes and offer any types of additional programs we can come up with. The students are always the focus and the classes being taught are always catered to their needs. We offer English as a Second Language, basic ed, GED, and workforce skills. However, it is the extra classes that the students request that keeps them motivated and maintain our positive image with the inmates. I realize we are small (our county jail holds 500) and it is easy to handle such a small population; however, I'm sure there are things that can be duplicated at a larger level.
Some comments on the discussion topics: it does take a motivating teacher to make your program work. Not only motivating, but excellent in teaching as well as people relationships! Maryland has had some fantastic programs that I have read about and I agree with the comments on self-education. However, I must add that peer education is also a very effective route. Our community also eliminated the newspapers when they put in televisions and ironically, the inmates are petitioning to get rid of the TVs because they never turn them off! Finally, I heard the presentation referred to by Robin Schwarz and the probability that our students are suffering from a physical limitation (poor eyesight, hearing problems, etc) and it is being neglected, is very likely. I hope the programs will begin to address that first.
There are a couple of things that I wanted to share that may be of some interest. We have Internet access for our students to use. It is strictly limited and monitored at all times. The classroom has 6 computers and all screens are visible. The students are allowed to use them while the instructor is present and monitoring. The rules do not allow email, chat, etc. All downloading and printing is monitored. It is a very small operation, but effective. We began a college online course pilot program last week with three students. They are taking a Web Page Design class. Hopefully, this will be a precedent for others to follow. We will see.
John Linton
David and others, Yesterday the Senate Committee Judiciary Committee, Sub-committee on Crime and Drugs, held a hearing on Prisoner Rehabilitation and Re-entry. I was sick not to be able to go, even though it was within walking distance of my office. (I was "chained to my desk" with some end of fiscal year deadlines.)
The testimony presented is available on the Judiciary Committee's web site: http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=2072 One witness was Diane Williams from the Safer Foundation in Chicago. She includes a description of her organization's integrated efforts to provide education to offenders, both during confinement and post release. Her testimony concludes with a success story of an individual who moved from homeless drop out to high school graduate and college student.
Diane is a "jobs program" person, so I was surprised by see the emphasis on education in her testimony. She even included a pitch for getting Pell grants restored to inmates. Obviously, getting to work is critical for offenders leaving institutions -- so integrating education with efforts to support success with employment is smart. I also found the Department of Labor testimony at yesterday's Senate hearings quite interesting.
I'm pleased that I'll be working on a little project this coming year to develop a resource guide for inmates focused on how they can access educational programming once released. David makes reference to the model of having local providers -- typically adult education programs and community colleges -- actually be the institutional education provider in order to encourage continuity upon release. I know that this model is common in jail settings in New York State. But too often inmates are held in State facilities distant from their home neighborhoods -- and continuity between service providers inside and outside is hardly an option. We plan to work with States to get this information in the hands of individuals who have been "turned on" to education during incarceration -- to help them understand their options to link up with appropriate program opportunities post release.
Steve Steurer
Hello David, I have been reading the messages from the last few days and wanted to put my two cents in for whatever it is worth. Sorry about not writing sooner but I have been on travel and have had limited email capability. There are so many interesting questions and responses that I do not know where to begin, so here goes.
There are actually a lot of post secondary programs going on across the country as noted in the recent Learning to Reduce Recidivism by The Institute for Higher Education, funded by the Ford Foundation. Go to _www.ihep.org_(http://www.ihep.org) for a copy of the report. It was rather encouraging that many states are doing good things with state funds and grants for youthful offenders out of John Linton's office. It is disappointing that, after setting up the grants for youthful offenders with support from Senators Specter and Kennedy and a few others that we have not been able to extend the age limit for these funds beyond age 25. We thought that we could bump the limit up to 35 this year and found out recently that the amendments have been dropped at the insistence of House members in the conference committee. What it means is that all of us need to get pro-active and carry the message forward that education does reduce crime and post secondary is one of the most cost-effective tools to do so. We have not been out there enough getting the message around to all public officials. CEA will lead a new effort to do so and we hope to make a lots of noise and bring many other associations and organizations along with us during the next congressional session and expand post secondary and other educational opportunities for the incarcerated, both youth and adult.
One of the respondents talked about having a strand for parenting at the next CEA annual conference which will be in Atlanta in July, 2007. Please see our website at _www.ceanational.org_ (http://www.ceanational.org) . We currently have general information and will soon post how to apply for presentations. One of the strands we are going to feature is parenting. So please join us for this topics and many others.
I retired from Maryland adult corrections two years ago and was very interested and involved in parenting. Cay Buser made some comments about efforts being led by Glennor Shirley through the library, particularly at the women's facility. Up until recently there was also a program at the Maryland Correctional Institution - Jessup for men. Over the years some of the things they have done include getting new or like new children's book donations from various sources and setting up events in the visitor's room every other month. The wife, grandmother, significant other, whatever would come and the father's would read with the children and other family members. There would be other educational and fun activities for the kids as well. The children would all go home with some brand new or like new books. I can't tell you how motivating that was for the fathers and the children. It was interesting because the men would have to learn to read the children's books ahead of time. There was no stigma for the men to learn to read through children's literature. It provided a great incentive for the men and the atmosphere of the events always brought tears to your eyes. I would go there on Saturday mornings and come home all energized.
Ohio has creative beautiful reading areas in each visitors room. A trained inmate aide is responsible to assist the visiting children to select and read books. The normally drab visitors rooms are made so much more comfortable with these colorful areas with rugs and soft furniture, artwork, brochures, etc.... You can contact Dr. Jerry McGlone's office for more information at 614-752-0305. I have been to a good number of prisons in Ohio in recent years and this is a great program.
Ohio also has a very extensive post secondary education program which involved 15 colleges throughout the state. CEA evaluates five programs per year in accordance with Ohio state law. The attendance and completion rates are all above 90% and all the colleges accept each others courses as inmates move through the various prisons or are released to continue on the outside. The accountability system that Ohio has put in place is the best I have seen and the quality of the programs is exceptional.
There are a lot of inmates, like Malcolm X did, who become interested in education and are self-motivated. But I believe after all these years of working in prisons and seeing programs that the prison and the school in the prison sets the tone. Hopefully, the entire correctional system has strong policies to encourage inmates to go to school and do well. That makes things even better. I used to think that you could not lead an inmate to education anymore than it was possible to herd cats. I no longer believe that. While the decision ultimately rests with the inmate, the prison either sets up incentives and awards, and creates an atmosphere that values programs or it doesn't. If it does lots of otherwise unmotivated students become involved for one reason or another and many of them get motivated as they become successful and overcome their years of negative educational experiences.
Go back to Corrections_Education#Glossary
Go back to Summary,_Questions_1-3:_Issues_of_Recidivism_and_Public_Support_for_CE
Go back to Summary,_Questions_4_-_Motivation
Go back to Summary,_Questions_5-7:_Curriculum,_Pell_Grants_&_Focus_of_Instruction
Go back to Summary,_Questions_8,9:_Prison-based_Family_Literacy,_Libraries_&_Self-directed_learning
Go on to Summary,_Questions_11,12:_Distance_Learning,_Connecting_Prisoners_to_Community_Programs_before_Release_&_Closing_Remarks
