Katherine - You can find Virginia's reentry programs report
on-line at www.dcjs.virginia.gov/research  This lengthy document, published
in October of 2007, contains on overview of other States' reentry programs
as well as information on Virginia's statewide reentry initiatives.   There
is discussion of programs run by public safety agencies as well as
information on Virginia's Offender Reentry and Transition Services Program
(ORTS).   There are some statistics in the report, and a chapter on the
contributions of correctional education, but no detailed cost analysis.
Perhaps the resources identified at the Criminal Justice Service's Division
of Policy, Planning and Research might be able to provide more details, or
be persuaded to begin collecting that type of data.

 

Carolyn Buser

Adult Education Program Specialist

United States Department of Education

Division of Adult Education and Literacy

202-245-6697  carolyn.buser at ed.gov

 

  _____  

From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov]
On Behalf Of Katherine
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 6:47 AM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 859] Re: Corrections to Community EducationQuestions
to Panel

 

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 <mailto:Carolyn.Buser at ed.gov>  

	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

	 

	
  _____  


	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._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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