David, 
 
You wrote: 
"Kentucky's prison population is rising at the fastest rate in the
nation, according to a report last month by the Pew Center on the
States, a nonpartisan Washington research and policy group. Kentucky
currently has about 22,600 felony offenders in jail or prison, and this
year's state corrections budget is about $431 million -- compared with
about 3,700 inmates in 1980 and a budget of $30 million. "
 
To our panel of guests:
 
Given this rare opportunity for change in the Kentucky penal system,
what information might I offer the Criminal Justice Council, which would
bring new light to the role of education -- especially adult education?"
 
Here at the Fortune Society, we work exclusively with people coming home
from prison or jail or otherwise involved with the criminal justice
system. Each year roughly 3,000 people come through our doors. 200-300
of them become involved in our education program; another 700
participate in our job readiness/job placement program. Many who are
recently released come for help with immediate crisis needs. They may be
homeless or need to get into a drug treatment program. As Jeremy Travis
remarked, they bring all those needs back to their communities. Wouldn't
it be better if many of them never went to prison in the first place?
 
At Fortune we run four Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) programs. In
our ATI programs, we work with people who have pled guilty to a felony
but have not yet been sentenced. As an alternative to prison time. the
judge (and the DA) offers them the alternative of coming to a program at
Fortune (among other places) for six months or more. While here their
cases remain open before the court, and we submit monthly reports on
their attendance, participation, etc. If, at the end of their mandated
period, the judge views their participation as positive, he/she
sentences them to probation and they don't have to do any hard time. If
they fail to attend regularly, get re-arrested, or otherwise fail to
satisfy the judge, they may be sentenced to hard time. 
 
A study of New York programs in 2002 looking at "jail displacement"
tried to calculate how much jail time was avoided by the ATI programs
working with individuals with felony convictions. The study found that
the programs saved from 116 to 200 days jail time per defendant.
Kentucky seems to be spending approximately $19,070 per inmate each year
($431 million correction budget for 22,600 inmates). At those rates, if
just 500 people per year were in placed in an alternative to
incarceration program, the state would save $9.5 million. 
 
Many of the students in our education program come through our ATI
programs. Working with them presents definite challenges. Since, for the
most part, they haven't done significant prison time, they are closer to
the streets and to the behaviors that got them in trouble in the first
place. Many of them (at least at first) don't want to be here, so those
that make their way to our classrooms don't always embrace the
educational process with the enthusiasm that many of us in adult
education have come to expect. No one likes to be mandated, even if it
is to a good thing. Still, we have had some significant success working
with these (mostly younger and mostly male) students. But maybe that's a
topic for another post. This one is already too long.
 
john

________________________________

From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David Collings
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 10:15 AM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 851] Re: Corrections to Community Education


This morning (3/17/08) the Louisville Courier-Journal reported the
following front-page story:
 
"Rising prison numbers worry Ky.
 Officials will meet today to consider solutions
 
Alarmed by Kentucky's exploding prison population -- and fast-rising
costs -- state Justice Secretary J. Michael Brown has called a meeting
today of the state Criminal Justice Council to take up the issue and
find some solutions. 
 
..."I think it is extremely urgent," said state Senate Majority leader
Dan Kelly, R-Springfield.
 
He said the state needs to find more humane ways to deal with minor
offenders who aren't dangerous and may need treatment for mental illness
or drug addiction.
 
"Fortunately, the cost is attracting some attention to the humanity,"
Kelly said.
 
Kentucky's prison population is rising at the fastest rate in the
nation, according to a report last month by the Pew Center on the
States, a nonpartisan Washington research and policy group. Kentucky
currently has about 22,600 felony offenders in jail or prison, and this
year's state corrections budget is about $431 million -- compared with
about 3,700 inmates in 1980 and a budget of $30 million. "
 
To our panel of guests:
 
Given this rare opportunity for change in the Kentucky penal system,
what information might I offer the Criminal Justice Council, which would
bring new light to the role of education -- especially adult education?
 
David Collings
 


________________________________

	From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David J. Rosen
	Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 8:59 AM
	To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
	Subject: [SpecialTopics 848] Corrections to Community Education
	
	
	Colleagues,

	This week our special topic is Transition from Corrections
Education to Community Education. I would like to welcome our guests Dr.
Carolyn Buser, Steve Schwalb,  John Gordon and Dr. Stephen J. Steurer.
You will find background information on them below as well as some
readings they have suggested.

	I will be posting some questions, but I hope you will also post
your questions. To begin, I would like to refer to some recent remarks
by Jeremy Travis, the President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
to a gathering of U.S. mayors in New York City on February 28th, 2008. I
would also like to invite our guests to react to these remarks and to
add other information that provides the background for this transition
issue, that helps us to understand why education, and transition from
corrections education to community education is such an important issue.
	
	
	"...over the past generation we have quadrupled the per capita
rate of 
	incarceration in this country.  Every year since 1972 - in times
of war and times of peace; 
	in good economic times, in bad economic times; when crime was
going up and crime was 
	going down - we have put more people in prison.  We also tend to
forget that, with the 
	exception of those few who die in prison, they will all come
back.   
	 
	This year, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics,
approximately 700,000 
	individuals will leave our nation's prisons, well over four
times the number who made a 
	similar journey thirty years ago.  Ninety percent of them are
men; a majority are men of 
	color; in every state, they typically go back to a small number
of urban neighborhoods, 
	neighborhoods that are struggling with poor schools, weak labor
markets, substandard 
	housing, and inadequate health care.  As a nation, we have in
essence asked these hard- 
	pressed communities to take on the enormous additional
responsibility of reintegrating 
	record numbers of their family members who have been sent off to
prison and return 
	home, typically with significant service needs, often without
supportive social networks."  
	( http://tinyurl.com/2glxlj )

	Background on Discussion Guests

	Carolyn (Cay) Buser
	Cay Buser joined the United States Department of Education in
May of 2006 as an adult education program specialist with duties as the
Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) liaison with
correctional education.  Dr. Buser works with the Western States to
assist them in the administration of adult education grants.  She also
is the national resource for coordination with correctional education
programs and adult education grants.
	 
	Prior to her federal appointment, Dr. Buser was director of
correctional education for the Maryland State Department of Education.
Her responsibilities entailed management of the education and library
programs in Maryland's adult and juvenile correctional systems.  She
provided direct support to Maryland's Educational Coordinating Council
for Correctional Institutions, the "school board" for correctional
education headed by the State Superintendent of Schools with the State
Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services as a member.
	 
	Dr. Buser has been an active member of the Correctional
Education Association serving as a regional director and is currently on
the editorial board of the Journal of Correctional Education.  Her
academic background includes a master's degree in special education and
a doctorate in educational policy and administration.  Dr. Buser taught
English in public middle and high schools in the Midwest, and in
community colleges in Maryland.  She taught for seven years in
Maryland's correctional education program and served as a principal in
three correctional settings before her appointment as director of the
State program.

	Steve Schwalb
	Steve Schwalb has served as President and CEO of Pioneer Human
Services since April, 2007. Prior to that, Steve had a 33-year career in
the field of corrections.  

	After receiving his B.A. degree in Business Administration from
the University of Washington, he began his corrections career as a
Personnel Management Specialist trainee with the Federal Bureau of
Prisons.  He subsequently held various positions of additional
responsibility, including Personnel Director, Chief of Internal Affairs,
Warden, Deputy Regional Director and Assistant Director. 
	 
	In the latter position, Steve was responsible for nationwide
oversight of the education, vocational training, recreation, parenting,
transition preparation, citizen volunteers and industrial work programs.
Serving in the role of Chief Operating Officer of Federal Prison
Industries, Inc., he oversaw over 100 factories that employ 21,000
inmates and 1,400 staff, and that generated $800 million in annual
sales.
	 
	In the mid-1980's, Steve served as Associate Superintendent and
Program Manager with the Washington State Department of Corrections, and
as Director of the King County Jail in Seattle. 
	 
	During his federal career, Steve was appointed by the President
to the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled, and served as chairman for four of his twelve years on the
committee.
	 
	John Gordon
	John has worked at the Fortune Society since 2001, first as
Director of its Education program and more recently as an Associate
President of Programs. The Fortune Society works with people after
they've come home from prison or jail. Their Education program serves
200-300 students per year; they offer classes in Adult Basic Education,
ESOL, and computer skills. Many students are on probation or parole;
others are mandated by the courts to one of Fortune's Alternatives to
Incarceration programs; some are no longer under any criminal justice
supervision.
	Before coming to the Fortune Society, John worked for 16 years
as Teacher-Director of the Open Book, a community based literacy program
in Brooklyn, NY. At the Open Book, some of his central concerns revolved
around developing student leadership and student participation in
program decision-making; publishing student writing and oral histories,
and welfare and literacy issues. He published several articles on these
topics as well as More Than a Job:  A Curriculum on Work and Society
(New Readers Press). He is an active participant in the New York City
Coalition for Adult Literacy.
	The Fortune Society was founded in 1967 with two main goals: (1)
to educate the public about prisons, criminal justice issues, and the
root causes of crime and (2) to provide support for people as they come
home from prison. Fortune serves over 3,000 former prisoners a year,
offering education, career development, counseling, substance abuse
treatment, housing, health services, and alternatives to incarceration.
It continues to play a strong role in advocating for criminal justice
and prison reform.

	Stephen J. Steurer, Ph.D.
	Steve is the  Executive Director of the Correctional Education
Association, a professional organization of educators who work in
prisons, jails and juvenile settings.


	Our guests have suggested the following readings:

	The Urban Institute's web site at
	http://www.urban.org/justice/index.cfm
	has a complete list of its publications, most of which are
online. Of particular interest may be those that highlight individual
state reports in the multi-state Returning Home project.
	http://tinyurl.com/2cm7jp
	These are all accessible online.

	Taylor Stoehr's articles. There are a number on the Changing
Lives Through Literature web site:
	http://cltl.umassd.edu/IssuesClassroom3.cfm
	"Enforcing the Rules" is especially recommended.

	The topic of prison location/release location will also be
useful to the discussion. There are several articles listed on the Urban
Institute's re-entry mapping pages, several from 2004.
	http://tinyurl.com/2687ma

	These two books have a lot to offer: Joan Petersilia's "When
	Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry" Oxford
University
	Press 2003, and Jeremy Travis' "But They All Come Back: Facing
the
	Challenges of Prisoner Reentry" Urban Institute Press 2005.

	Also, see http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/181413.pdf for a
paper by Jeremy Travis on this topic.

	As mentioned earlier, here's the link to the Correctional
Education, Family Literacy and Transitions discussion that were hosted
here in September 2006:
	
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Corrections_Education#2._Correcti
onal_Ed.2C_Family_Literacy_.26_Transition--On-Line_Discussion.2C_Septemb
er_2006 or, for short,
	http://tinyurl.com/yrzwlk

	David J. Rosen
	Special Topics Discussion Moderator
	djrosen at comcast.net





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/specialtopics/attachments/20080317/63d3554d/attachment.html