Inmate Funded Educational Scholarship Kicks Off Dec. 5

Jan 9, 2014 No Comments

An inmate-funded scholarship will be jointly announced by the Milwaukee House of Correction, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, and Creative Corrections Education Foundation at an event Thursday, Dec. 5, 3-4 p.m. at the Milwaukee County House of Correction, 8885 S. 68th St., Franklin. Image courtesy creativecorrections.org

Current inmates at the House of Correction have already pledged $400 per month to the scholarship, joining inmates in New Mexico and Texas. (That pledge amount will likely grow.) Their contributions will provide educational scholarships for children of inmates in Milwaukee County and surrounding areas.

The hope is obvious: for inmates’ children not to follow a life of crime. “We’re trying to break the cycle by supporting the education of prisoners’ children,” says Stan Stojkovic, dean of the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare. According to the American Correctional Association, up to 50 percent of incarcerated juveniles have an incarcerated parent.

The scholarship fund is the brainchild of Boscobel, Wis., native Percy Pitzer, retired warden of Oxford Federal Prison and founder of the non-profit Creative Corrections Education Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to support equal opportunities for students whose parent or guardian is incarcerated or paroled and to stop second-generation crime.

A total of 31 $1,000-scholarships have been awarded thus far in 2013, and Pitzer anticipates awarding nine more by year’s end.

Our View: Prisoner Education a Step Toward Better Life

Jan 8, 2014 No Comments

By The Jackson Sun

People go to prison for reasons too many to mention. But what we know is that, except for the most dangerous violent criminals, the vast majority of prisoners someday will get out and return to their home communities. What happens to them next can mean the difference between lifelong problems and becoming productive citizens. A small program at Lipscomb University in Nashville is a good model that can offer hope and opportunity to prisoners who are serious about turning their lives around. Image courtesy lipscomb.edu

On Dec. 13, Lipscomb will graduate nine inmates with post-secondary associate’s degrees. Eight will come from the Tennessee Prison for Women, and one from another penal institution. These women have spent their time behind bars working to improve their lives through education. Lipscomb began this program eight years ago. It provides professors who go to the prison each week to conduct college classes. Lipscomb also has regular students join in classes held at the prison. This helps offer inmates a valuable non-prison point of view of life, along with a more real-world mix of people they someday will meet in the workplace.

In its essence, prison is punishment for breaking the law. It is not a pleasant environment, and those who have been there will attest that there are no “country club” prisons. But that doesn’t have to mean that some inmates can begin to improve their lives, even while serving their sentences.

Lady Justice and gavel on a table in a classic law library setting.

Texas Judges Rarely Disciplined, Seldom Publicly

Jan 8, 2014 No Comments

By Matt Clarke In 2009, former Harris County, Texas, state district judge Woodrow “Woody” Densen was caught on surveillance video keying a neighbor’s car, causing significant damage. The video received widespread media coverage. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief and agreed to pay a $1,500 fine and over $6,000 in restitution.

A Second Chance Through Princeton’s Prison Teaching Initiative

Jan 7, 2014 No Comments

Image courtesy vimeo.comBy Emily Aronson, Office of Communications

Two years ago, Reginald Murph was in prison for the second time. Today, he is a sophomore at Rutgers University. He credits Princeton University’s Prison Teaching Initiative with helping give him a second chance.

The Prison Teaching Initiative (PTI) offers credit-earning college courses to inmates at three New Jersey correctional facilities. More than 70 Princeton faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and alumni volunteer to teach classes in English, mathematics, science and other subjects spanning the liberal arts.

Since the program began eight years ago, nearly 500 inmates have earned college credits by taking PTI classes. Credits may be transferred to any community college in New Jersey as well as a handful of public colleges and universities in the state.

“The Princeton classes made me feel like a student. And feeling like a student in prison was a really good feeling,” said Murph, who is studying social work at Rutgers-New Brunswick. “To sit at my desk and really focus on writing an essay. To step outside of myself for an hour and feel like a somewhat normal person.

“I was doing something in prison. I didn’t lose my hope. A lot of people in prison can go backwards, or stay the same. Or you can propel forward,” Murph continued. “Education is necessary to propel forward.”

PTI’s mission is to reduce incarceration and recidivism rates in the state, especially among poor and minority communities, by providing inmates with the education and skills they need to lead productive, intellectually engaged lives while in prison and when they get out.

Two vibrant character costumes stand at a busy urban intersection in New York City.

Sesame Street Goes to Prison

Jan 6, 2014 No Comments

By Dianne Frazee Walker If you dare to watch the video featured in an online kit made for child advocacy groups and prison programs for children of incarcerated parents, be prepared with a box of Kleenex handy. Sesame Street producers have done an extraordinary job of animating a puppet character that perfectly portrays a dejected

Education and Emotional Literacy with the Lionheart Foundation

Jan 3, 2014 No Comments

As its website attests, the Lionheart Foundation “provides education, rehabilitation, and reentry support to incarcerated men and women in prisons and jails throughout the United States.” Their prison-based initiatives are one of the cornerstones of this foundation, but Lionheart also supports youth-at-risk programming as well as programming for teen parents. The hub of the program

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Too Many Prisoners Dilemma

Jan 3, 2014 No Comments

By Dan Froomkin There’s a growing national consensus that, as Attorney General Eric Holder stated in August, “too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason.” When Holder proceeded to order federal prosecutors to stop triggering mandatory minimum sentences for some nonviolent drug offenders, that

Directory of Pen Pal Companies for Prisoners

Jan 2, 2014 No Comments

A common pastime of prisoners is writing those outside of prison. This traditional correspondence regimen helps to alleviate the boring stretches of downtime and allows prisoners to expand their world through the extension of those they write to. As such, the value of this activity cannot be downplayed. Pen pals not only help to pass

The Prison Education Project of California

Jan 2, 2014 No Comments

By ChristopherZoukis The aim of California’s Prison Education Project (PEP) is to reduce recidivism and encourage partnerships between the state’s colleges and prisons. Currently, PEP involves six prisons and about 2,000 prison inmates–both men and women. The program is delivered via 2,000 volunteers from regional colleges and community colleges. This volunteer-based outreach program is then

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New Year’s Eve, Kids and Prisons

Dec 31, 2013 No Comments

By Dianne Frazee-Walker Every year New York City attracts thousands of people bringing in the New Year. Gathered in Times Square are crowds waiting to watch the famous ball drop at the crack of midnight. What is hidden behind the gala of toasting champagne glasses, kisses, confetti, and streamers are about 105,000 remote New York

News

Inmate Funded Educational Scholarship Kicks Off Dec. 5

Our View: Prisoner Education a Step Toward Better Life

Texas Judges Rarely Disciplined, Seldom Publicly

A Second Chance Through Princeton’s Prison Teaching Initiative

Sesame Street Goes to Prison

Education and Emotional Literacy with the Lionheart Foundation

Too Many Prisoners Dilemma

Directory of Pen Pal Companies for Prisoners

The Prison Education Project of California

New Year’s Eve, Kids and Prisons

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