New York Times Article
This classroom was like any other classroom-filled with students providing insightful comments, eagerly scribbling down notes, and even writing thought-provoking essays. Yet these students were not your typical students. Can you imagine drug dealers, murderers, sex-offenders, and thieves receiving a college degree from Wesleyan University?
Recently, Wesleyan University started a privately funded inmate education program, where inmates will learn a vast array of topics from sociology to biology. This program was designed to “give them [the inmates] an opportunity to get an elite college education inside their-high security prison” (Cowan 1). At the Cheshire Correctional Institution in Connecticut, 120 inmates applied for the 19 spots in the educational program. In order to enter this rigorous program, the inmates had to answer essay questions to show their writing and critical thinking skills. Once the 19 inmates were chosen, they had the opportunity to discuss topics with Wesleyan students, read college level books, and take the same courses as students at Wesleyan- all for free.
Although many people argue that this program seems unfair, considering that non-criminals are struggling to receive a college education while these convicts will receive one for free, I believe this program can change the lives of these inmates. Education can serve as the inmates’ rehabilitation. It provides hope for some of the inmates who will eventually enter back into society. It will also provide them with some direction from every day civilians who will be working with them. The Wesleyan students and the professor can act as role models for these inmates. Maybe if these criminals had received a stronger education prior to committing criminal acts, they might not have committed their crimes. Many of these inmates come from low socioeconomic backgrounds where education might not have been easily accessible. This program gives them the opportunity to fill their educational void. Through the Wesleyan education program, the inmates can follow the prison’s motto: “’Non Sum Qualis Eram’ or ‘I am not what I once was’” (Cowan 1).
Inmate Programs
The benefits of education in prison
Education is found to lower risk of arrests
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I think that this program is great. I have always been an advocate of giving people second chances and the people in prison aren’t always people who have no shot at living a normal productive life. In life, people make bad decisions, obviously some worse than others and the inmates in prison are the ones who get caught. My philosophy about prison is that it’s a longer version of a kindergarten timeout. You’re placed in a cell and are pretty much forced to think about your actions and how you were supposed to act. Only in prison, you don’t get to show society how you were supposed to act because you don’t get a second chance. Statistics prove that after inmates leave prison the first time they have a 72% chance of returning back to prison. I think that even within the prison, there is a whole lot of crime taking place. I think that it is the government’s way of getting rid of the felons by letting them kill each other off. Instead, why not try to make a positive effort to change the lives of people instead of giving up on them and creating an image that they are useless criminals.
ReplyDeleteWith this college program, inmates do get to show people who they really are by making a conscious effort to better themselves and even more importantly, create a positive self esteem. A lot of times, people who are sent to prison think poorly of themselves and they continue to act violent. If you were given an opportunity to educate yourself, you are going to have a positive outlook on life. In addition, they are more likely to make the right decision in an altercation. Also mentioned in the video, it’s much more cost effective to run the college program because it has a much lower prison-return rate than the traditional prison term method. This could be influential because as the prisons become more crowded and money becomes tighter, the government should look for new ways to control the prison population and rehabilitate the inmates to produce law abiding citizens who contribute to society.
The idea of educating prisoners while in jail helps them re-establish themselves for their release into society. The young man shown in the video is a great example of who could benefit from these programs. He’s around the age people would be graduating and yet without these programs he would sit in jail and have to wait even longer to attend school. The video also discussed that the money and return rate of graduates of the program within the jails are the most cost effective and the return rate is significantly lower. I think these programs help rehabilitate the inmates for the real world rather than just keeping them in a cell then releasing them with no skill back into normal life. The inmates that do get the education have a better chance of getting into these schools and into jobs rather than the ones not in the program. There are only a handful of these education programs within jails, yet with the information given in the video, the idea of these schools should start to be implemented everywhere. Eventually these inmates will be leaving the jail and with an education many could also realize not only the consequences of going back but the confidence to go out and option a job. I think these programs are a life savior to many inmates and that although many see the issues of money and time, the impact of the education far out ways the consequences.
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