Dear Panel Members:

Thank you for an interesting and enlightening discussion on this topic.  Having worked in career based higher education, I have met several students trying to re-enter society through more traditional programs.  The results were not what they should have been.  I have never worked in a purely community based program or in correctional institutions. 

Here are my questions, then:

1.  What do you see as the main differences between career educational programs through public or private postsecondary institutions and community education programs?  How do these differences account for the success or failure of students in these programs?

2.  What spectrum of crimes have these students committed?  What are the most common?  How does the severity of the crime relate to their outcomes in community educational programs and subsequent attempts to find employment...or does it?

3.  Does anyone here have statistical information (similar to what Carolyn offers) on prisons in the state of Virginia?  If not, does anyone know where I could find this information?

Again, thank you for this discussion.  

Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt
www.luxuriouschoices.net 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Buser, Carolyn 
  To: specialtopics at nifl.gov 
  Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 11:21 AM
  Subject: [SpecialTopics 852] Re: Corrections to Community Education


              David - I have always found that the statistics on the children of inmates have had a positive effect on the merits of correctional education.  The Bureau of Justice Statistics 2000 report on Incarcerated Parents and their Children states that 2.1% of the minor children in the United States had at least one parent in prison on any given day.  Over the course of childhood, over ten million children have lived with the stigma of absent and incarcerated parents.  You can find or estimate that number in Kentucky and than talk about the educational level of the parent being the major determining factor in the educational level of the child.  Additionally, of course, are the studies that link correctional education with a reduction in recidivism.  The Three State Recidivism Study, sponsored by the Correctional Education Association and the United States Department of Education, was encouraging in terms of reduction of both numbers of recidivists and tax dollars spent on corrections.  The most effective educational plan for reducing recidivism from that study involved inmate students who participated in occupational training programs and then were employed in that trade area upon release.  However, even the slightest involvement in an education program resulted in a reduction in recidivism according to that study.  Steve Aos et.al. in the 2001 paper for the Washington State Institute for Public Policy present a compelling chart listing the cost benefit of various prison programs.  In-prison vocational education is listed as the best value returning $7.13 for each dollar spent.  Thirteen offender programs are reviewed, and in-prison adult basic education ranks fifth, saving $5.65 for each dollar spent.  Those are numbers that State governments find persuasive.  I would also recommend the Journal of Correctional Education and other resources of the Correctional Education Association.  Cay

   


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  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

   

   


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    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._Correctional_Ed.2C_Family_Literacy_.26_Transition--On-Line_Discussion.2C_September_2006 or, for short,

    http://tinyurl.com/yrzwlk

     

    David J. Rosen

    Special Topics Discussion Moderator

    djrosen at comcast.net

     

     

     

     



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