By Derrick Falkenberg The value of education for today’s prisoners is increasing like never before. With the economic downturn, the uneducated are at a distinct disadvantage and uneducated prisoners are even worse off. As sizeable groups of citizens compete for well-paying positions, the edge goes to those with a greater understanding. These times have shown
Restorative justice is a practice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by crime by bringing victims, offenders, and community members together to reconcile how that will be done. Outcomes from the process can be transformational.
Dr. Howard Zehr, the pioneer of restorative justice in the United States, proclaims, “A restorative justice framework focuses on repairing the harm done to victims and the community through a process of negotiation, mediation, victim empowerment, and reparation. Within this framework, crime and delinquency present a unique opportunity to build relationships and reach an agreement through a collaborative process.” Image courtesy moj.gov.jm
The process has been utilized with juvenile first time offenders and proven valuable for reducing the rate of reoffending. Recidivism is reduced from 30% using the conventional punitive system down to 8% using restorative practices with youthful offenders.
Restorative justice approaches to minor delinquency or criminal violations have gained popularity in the U.S. and elsewhere since the 1970s and are increasingly employed as responses to serious delinquency or adult criminal behaviors.
The restorative justice process traditionally involves victims and offenders confronting each other in a conference or also referred to as a circle. Both the victim and offender are voluntary participants. A facilitator and co-facilitator along with community members are also present.
Academics and something more—that’s what this initiative is about; yet that something is the defining feature of this program that is working to endow prisoners with more than just academic skills when they leave prison behind them and return to South Carolina’s streets. The South Carolina Prison Initiative Program is a partnership between the state’s prison system and Columbia International University. The something that defines this initiative is its faith-based component that provides inmates with spiritual tools they need to make a genuine life change. Image courtesy ciu.edu
Columbia International University Prison Initiative
According to the university’s website, “The mission of the initiative is to train inmates to live in accordance with biblical principles and to equip them for the unique ministry opportunities available to them because of their incarceration.” Along with general academic subject matter, prisoners are instructed in general ministry skills. Essentially, the program seeks to empower participants so that they may positively empower others upon their release. Inmates who participate in the initiative’s accredited Associate of Arts program designed particularly for them are equipped to embrace the ministering opportunities that may be open to them upon their eventual release from prison. According to CIU, 95 percent of all the inmates in the South Carolina prison system will be released at some point.
Inmate Eligibility
Not all inmates are interested or eligible to participate in this program. According to CIU, “The program will be offered only to inmates who meet and maintain high standards of personal conduct” and the school’s “standards for academic achievement.” That said, this program provides an alternative for qualifying inmates; rather than do nothing to improve their skills while incarcerated, they can work toward a brighter future by learning viable skills that can effectively help them change their lives and reduce the risk of returning to the lifestyle or behaviors that caused them to go to prison in the first place.
In Bruce Michaels’ book College In Prison: Information and Resources for Incarcerated Students, he presents the positive reasons — along with the potential negatives — for forming a study group for prospective incarcerated college students. I like a number of his ideas and would like to explore the concept of forming institutionally-approved study groups with
Prison education, inmate education, and correctional education are, depending on whom you ask, essentially the same concept. They comprise the field of educating those in prisons or jails. The difference in nomenclature has to do with which group a person belongs to, based on preference more than substance. Those incarcerated in a correctional setting tend
By Jean Trounstine Prisoners are probably one of the last groups anyone would expect to have access to their own blog. Some might argue that they should never get such a privilege. But keeping in mind that more than 95 percent of prisoners will one day return to society, we might consider how we want
The other day a good friend passed along a few letters which several schools had sent him concerning college-level correspondence education. He was digging through the Distance Education and Training Council’s (DETC) directory of accredited schools and wrote to several concerning his own studies. As a result of his letters, these schools responded that they
Effectively evaluating inmates who are interested in becoming classroom tutors or instructors is a challenging — but — essential task. This is because the health of your very classroom depends on finding the right fit, an inmate who is experienced enough to teach the subject at hand, motivated enough to continue putting in the time and effort day after day, and passionate enough to be patient with incarcerated students who might not be very accessible, friendly, or open to learning. You’re looking for a needle in a haystack. But with several concepts in mind and a roadmap in hand, this process can turn from a tumultuous experience to one of certainty and clarity.
What follows is that roadmap. These are some of the components you should consider when evaluating applicants for inmate instructor positions.
Prior Experience: In my mind, prior experience is the top selection criteria. Teaching in the prison context is not an easy task, and inmate learners are not always the most willing of students. As such, an experienced hand is usually best. If an inmate has had a positive prior teaching experience in the correctional setting, this person brings those prior skills with them to the table. Likewise, those who have taught outside of prison are a tremendous resource since most people don’t go into the teaching profession for the money. As such, they likely had, and might still possess, a passion for teaching. This can only be a plus for your classroom.
By Matthew Fleischer – Take Part Xavier McElrath-Bey was locked up as an accomplice to murder before his 14th birthday. A participant in a gang murder, McElrath-Bey spent 13 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for his crime between 1989 and 2002. Though many young people in similar circumstances would be written off as
In a recent letter from Brigham Young University (BYU), university officials acknowledged that they have ceased all paper-based correspondence courses. This is a blow to incarcerated students country-wide considering that BYU, while never offering a degree program to incarcerated students, did offer a significant number of high-quality paper-based courses which those in prison could complete. These included high school, college, and personal development courses. I, for one, am sorry to see them go as I have even recommended BYU in my book, Education Behind Bars: A Win-Win Strategy for Maximum Security. This is a most unfortunate development.
The BYU letter reads, in part, as follows: “Thank you for your interest in our BYU Independent Study program. Due to changes and upgrades to our course delivery system, we are no longer offering university courses in a paper format. Students enrolling in our university courses must have access to a computer and the internet. . . If your institution supports having internet access . . . [y]ou may enroll with the enclosed enrollment form via mail, online, or over the phone. . . We do not offer any degrees or certificate programs through Independent Study to students who have not already completed 30 credits on BYU campus. We do offer courses that can be transferred to other Universities with approval from that University. . . We hope that your educational goals will be realized and commend you for your desire to grow academically. If you have further questions, please let me know as I am happy to answer them.”
We have profiled every prison within the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Learn about each prison’s location, security level, educational and recreational offerings, and much more.
Elizabeth Franklin-Best P.C.
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