Recently, I have been enjoying a tremendous book, Providing College To Prison Inmates, by Jeanne Bayer Contardo. This excellent book examines the North Carolina Prison System’s partnership with the North Carolina Community College System, a very fruitful 20-year-old partnership. On pages 154 through 156 of this text, Contardo suggests seven “Recommendations for Policy and Practice.” I liked her suggestions so much that I’ve decided to base a seven-part blog series on them.
Each of the seven blogs will focus on one of Contardo’s suggestions. The blog will start with a short quote; then, I will expound upon her thoughts with my own. My goal is to provide the voice of one who understands the issues and lives them daily. While the credit for the idea of each blog post – and the initial quote – rests with Contardo, the substance of each blog rests with me.
As always, I invite your comments and suggestions on everything I write. Without further ado, here is the first blog post in this series:
“Use available resources, including educational, financial, and political, when developing correctional education programming” – Contardo (pg. 154)
A considerable barrier to implementing educational programming for prisoners is creating new programs and policies, both of which are very expensive. Instead of crafting a whole new program – and policy to go along with it – prison systems could utilize what they already have. This way, resources are already in place, and programs have already been proven to work and be efficient. All that would be required is a modification of the program to allow students in correctional settings to participate.
The American Community College System is a prime example of a program that every state already possesses. Community colleges focus on providing an education to everyone in their communities, particularly those of a lower socioeconomic status. Hence, they are adept at finding funding, managing program costs, and providing a college-level education to their surrounding community.
The idea of utilizing community colleges for correctional education needs is not a new one. Before 1994 — when prisoners were still eligible for Pell Grants – many community colleges allowed prisoners to participate in their educational programming. I suggest that the same programs that were implemented then be implemented now. Since the program and partnership had been proven to work before, it can work now, too.
Another benefit of utilizing existing educational programming is that the people who already facilitate such programs can support a new demographic in their programs. By allowing prisoners to take the same courses as their regular students, nothing changes in terms of instruction. The only differences are the workload per course and the method of instruction. To alleviate these issues, the community college system could easily provide a video feed or a recording of the particular instructor’s lectures for the incarcerated students to utilize at their facility. An extra teaching assistant – or a person at the prison – could grade all lessons and examinations. The cost would be much the same as a regular college class. Admittedly, in-person instruction is always the best answer, albeit not the most cost-effective solution.
As always, the issue of funding is of paramount concern. Education administrators, policymakers, and the general public want to see their hard-earned tax dollars and budgets put to good use. The idea of providing college-level education to incarcerated students via local community colleges does just this. When each prison purchases the required texts for a particular course – say five textbooks per course – they can allow their prisoner participants to utilize these repeatedly. Hence, the same book investment can enable hundreds of students to obtain a higher education. The same is valid with any other form of required materials. Even better, the community colleges could donate old editions of textbooks for the prisons to utilize. This way, it is a win-win situation. Community colleges donate the old textbooks they no longer need, and the incarcerated students can use them to gain a higher education. Other methods of instruction have entirely removed the textbook costs by utilizing computers with a secured connection to the community college to deliver the coursework and instruction.
Last but still very important, a detailed analysis must be made by the local community college administration and the local prison administration. This analysis must answer questions of cost, security, implementation, feasibility, and the potential utilization of existing networks. No program should be implemented without detailed planning, a limited pilot program, and a strong focus on research and results. As such, a mechanism must be in place to measure the successes of any implemented program, to record student progress, and to gauge the effectiveness of the various parts of the program. As researchers and administrators reflect upon the program, they can measure its effectiveness and isolate areas where improvement is needed. Then, other prisons and prison systems can follow suit and base their programs upon the research and experience recorded by the various pilot programs.
Too often, when discussing college programming in prison, the focus is shifted toward the cost of implementing new programs or dealing with the potential political backlash. By utilizing existing resources, much can be accomplished. After all, the existing networks are already proven and somewhat current, hence feasible. Combining what is already there with what is feasible can go much further than previously believed. Then, when the truth of the issue is placed on the table – that we aren’t really dealing with numbers, but lives – the costs and energy required to implement such programs seem much less important. The benefit outweighs the cost by a factor of five!
Published Oct 13, 2011 by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA | Last Updated by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA on Feb 16, 2024 at 10:37 am
