Prison Education: An Instructor Who Cheats?!
I am angry! Ok, I said it. I, a 25-year-old federal prisoner, who has bright red stars tattooed on his hands, am angry. I note my appearance and age because of the irony of the situation. The description that I just gave you of myself probably doesn’t inspire a general feeling of moral behavior or ethics. But both are front and center in the issue at hand.
The other day Mr. Batton and Mr. Rigney (one of the GED tutors) brought a new man to me. They introduced the man as a “well-learned man; a man who educated himself from behind bars.” He has salt and pepper hair, probably in his late 30s or early 40s, and comes across as a decent guy. Moreover, he was inquiring about becoming a GED tutor in the Education Department. All of this seemed to make him a potential asset to the Education Department. But boy was I wrong.
Today I went to Dental…yet again. While waiting up there at 9:00 a.m., the man came out of the Medical Department wing and sat down next to me. We struck up a conversation about his educational past. After all, I was a familiar face and the last time I had seen him was in the Education Department, where we spoke about him becoming a GED tutor or ACE (Adult Continuing Education) instructor.
