(Archive February 2016) Prison Rehabilitation and Education

Should Prison Inmates Get Grants to Pay for Their Education?

By Paul Crowley | Observer Contributor

Prisoners. Inmates. Convicts. The incarcerated.  They break the law and we put them in jail to punish them and to deter other people from making the same mistake.  We also seek to rehabilitate them.

We incarcerate 25% of the world’s prisoners.  One and a half million people were in state or federal jail in 2014.   93% of these people will return to our communities.  We certainly punish them – especially since the get tough days of the 1990’s.  It is hard to measure a deterrence strategy, but since our prisons are swollen with inmates, maybe we do not deter enough.  But why bother to spend the money to rehabilitate them?

If prisoners are released and get jobs, their chances to follow a lawful existence are high.  If they are released and cannot find work – chances are they will return to a life of crime, re-arrest and imprisonment.  It is in our best interest to improve the chance for employment of released convicts.  But our local prison in Gardner is offering few if any education and training programs for its 1000 inmates.

Once ex-cons are re-arrested because they cannot effectively start a new life, the cost of justice begins to accumulate.  Pre-trial lockup, trials, transportation, incarceration, health care, cost of appeals, etc.  If an inmate can stay out of jail after release, those costs are not incurred.  So rehabilitation can lower our future tax burden.  In fact, a recent Rand Corporation study showed that if we spend one dollar on educating prisoners, it saves seven dollars in future justice costs.

If a released inmate chooses to not commit crime, then the community is safer.  If they become better educated, their level of violence while in prison will be lower – improving safety for the prison staff.

An employed ex-convict pays taxes, builds a life, and contributes to the community.

But education takes money.  It takes resources.  Diverting money to convicts when law abiding citizens have needs is an idea that a politician would have difficulty championing.  Felons lose their right to vote and since they cannot vote, they have no political power.  That does not mean they are neglected, but it does mean that their ability to fight for their rights is compromised

There are certainly some current convicts that will always peruse a life of crime by choice or compulsion.  But not all prisoners are so committed.  Most of them are not 100% convicts.  They have other parts of their lives such as being a parent, a son or daughter.  They were teachers, carpenters, musicians, football heroes, veterans, etc.  We classify them as convicts and make their rehabilitation almost impossible.  They cannot get a driver’s license for up to 5 years.  Most employers are reluctant to hire convicts out of bias or fear, or because the released inmates have no current marketable skills.

According to the Rand study, rehabilitative studying and training, because it makes released prisoners more valuable, decreases recidivism (return to jail) by 13% of convicts released.  That is a drop in future crime and justice cost that will positively impact the budgets of overstretched state prisons – saving millions.  Proposals at the federal level to provide incentives for employers to hire released inmates can also help.

This reporter and Susan Tordella, director of End Mass Incarceration Together, EMIT Web Site , a Unitarian Universalist volunteer task force to reform the Commonwealth’s justice and correctional systems, met with State Senator Jennifer  Flanagan to discuss education and other issues.  The Senator is a strong advocate for mental health including inmates and wishes for a stronger participation by prisoners in mental health programs.  She also believes that social issues and basic educational improvements are necessary to reverse crime.  Senator Flanagan is strongly in favor of mandatory minimum sentences.

There are several bills before the legislature that address education and safety.  Senate bill S 64 and House bill H 1429 includes provisions to invest in education and job training for prisoners.  Senate bill S 786 and House bill H 1620 are before the legislature to discuss repeal of mandatory minimums.   Programs such as restorative justice (S 71 and H 1313) seek to engage offenders with victims, prosecutors and judges to re-examine the impact of their crimes.  

What is MWCC doing?  MWCC has just announced that they will be developing an education program with the Worcester County Jail. 

Until 1994, MWCC had an active educational program with the North Central Correctional Institute, the state prison in Gardner.  The funding of the program was based on Pell grants.  As prisoners have no income, they qualify for assistance.  But during the 1990’s get tough politicians were able to eliminate Pell grants for prisoners.  Although they used 0.5% of the grant funds available, it was a popular “get tough” mindset that easily pulled this feature away from convicts.  Over 500 educational programs in the country closed, leaving 14 programs running in the country.  

Assuming a 5 year turnover of population and based on the Rand study’s projections, over 500 fewer released convicts would have returned to prison during those 20 years.  There are ten state prisons.  That would then mean 5000 fewer convicts, 5000 fewer crimes, and 5000 fewer trials.

But running a program is expensive.  Several points were brought out during a discussion with Mellissa Sargent, Assistant Dean at MWCC.  Ms. Sargent was the lead administrator during the prior program at MWCC.  

There is administration needed at the local school and the prison.  Teachers need to be recruited and trained.   Assessment tests need to be applied.  Computer access is limited or non-existent.  Space, time and personnel have to be committed by the prison.  Review of materials, restrictions on types of materials (CD’s, spiral bound books, etc. can be used as weapons), and other issues need to be managed.   Additionally, the funding formula for community colleges suffers when students do not complete a program.  If an inmate is transferred to another prison or is released and goes home without finishing the program, the school is penalized in the funding formula.  

In July, President Obama promoted a pilot program for using Pell grants for prisoners.  There are reform issues in front of the Massachusetts Legislature, and both liberal and conservative groups agree on the need for prison reform.  States and cities are struggling with unmanageable prison populations.  According to the Bureau of Justice Systems web site, “Eighteen states and the BOP [sic Bureau of Prisons] were operating at more than 100 percent of their maximum prison facility capacity at year end 2014, and seven states housed at least 20 percent of their prison population in privately operated facilities…”

However, little progress is being made.  Until we begin to see ex-convicts as people rather than social pariahs they will continue to be disenfranchised politically and socially, suffering tremendous roadblocks to building a positive and productive life.  Until we rehabilitate them more actively, they will continue to be a neglected class of citizens.