What a timely article!
*Part I of this blog includes a few thoughts on the article.
Part II will include views after having visited jail on Thursday.
According to the article, the state of New York (NY) used to
pay for college classes for inmates until the 1990s when funds were no longer
available to support the program. After reading through the article and
comments, I can see both sides of the argument. The educator in me wins out,
voting to support paying for classes for inmates. http://www.npr.org/2014/03/11/288689537/n-y-governor-says-college-for-inmates-will-pay-off-for-taxpayers
Different Offenses
I don’t pretend to understand our legal system. From other
articles and news stories I’ve watched or read, it seems there are people in
prison for minor misdemeanors or petty crimes who would greatly benefit from
more education. Rehabilitation for them is a real opportunity. But the stigma
of being an ex-prisoner may be a permanent block to their successes upon completion
of their sentences. People in the wrong
place at the wrong time, people wrongly convicted, those who didn’t pay child
support, and others who were first-time offenders could be productive,
contributing, tax-paying members of society again.
The Alternative
What’s the alternative? A person goes to jail, sits for years
doing nothing productive, and emerges with no skills or ability to take care of
themselves. I don’t understand how that continues to be acceptable. These are
people who affect our community. I would rather they be able to get a job than
go back to whatever landed them in prison to begin with.
The Money
It has been my experience, that people who identify as
conservative are very fiscally minded. Which is why I am surprised that not
more conservatives support funding the initial cost of educating inmates to the
continued cost of housing and feeding repeat offenders.
Silly Fallacies
One argument brought forth in the comments of the article
said that now students will see going to prison as their only chance of getting
a free education. This is silly. And a fallacy. A silly fallacy to be exact.
Committing a crime does not guarantee that you will end up in a facility that
offers you a free college education. Sure, it’s free housing, but a cell does
not make a home. You have no freedoms. Free meals? Not super nutritious or
tasty. At least not at the last prison where I visited family. Free education? There are a number of ways to
get a free education. I don’t see kids lining up to commit crimes so they can
go prison for an education. The money the state would save in the long run
could be funneled back into education. And it doesn’t have to be free, the
inmates ould work it off or do some sort of payback program when they become
gainfully employed.
Finland
I love me some Finland. Seriously. We have talked ad nauseam
about ways to move to Finland. They require that you actively learn Finnish,
have a sizeable amount of savings, and have proof that you have a job before
they’ll even grant you a temporary visa. They don’t get much sun, but they are
some of the happiest people on the planet, leading the world in education,
sustainability, and well-being. Their rates of recidivism are also low when
compared with the US. They don’t cage their inmates like animals. They are some
of the most humane prisons on Earth. And safest. Just a thought. (http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/why-scandinavian-prisons-are-superior/279949/)
N.Y.
Governor Says College For Inmates Will Pay Off For Taxpayers
America used to have a robust college education system for
prison inmates. It was seen as a way to rehabilitate men and women behind bars
by helping them go straight when they got out.
Those taxpayer-funded college classes were defunded in the
1990s. But New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo would like to bring them back in the
state, prompting a fierce new debate over higher education in state prisons.
Things have become so heated that a reporter even evoked
Mark David Chapman, the man who murdered John Lennon, in a question to Cuomo
this month in Buffalo, N.Y. "What do you say to a Yoko Ono if Mark David
Chapman says, 'I want a college education?' " the reporter asked.
Cuomo, a Democrat, says reinstating taxpayer-funded college
classes in New York's prisons is a common-sense plan that will reduce the
number of inmates who commit new crimes.
"Forget nice; let's talk about self-interest,"
Cuomo responded. "You pay $60,000 for a prison cell for a year. You put a
guy away for 10 years, that's 600 grand. Right now, chances are almost half,
that once he's released, he's going to come right back."
Cuomo says helping inmates get a college education would
cost about $5,000 a year per person — chump change, he argues, if it keeps that
inmate from bouncing back into prison.
But even some members of the governor's own party hate this
idea. State Assemblywoman Addie Russell, whose upstate district includes three
state prisons, says taxpayers just won't stand for inmates getting a free
college education, while middle-class families struggle to pay for their kids'
tuition, housing and books.
"That is the vast majority of feedback that I'm also
getting from my constituents," she says. "You know, 'Where is the
relief for the rest of the law-abiding population?' "
If this argument sounds familiar, the fight here in New York
is a carbon copy of the national debate over prison education programs 20 years
ago.
In 1994, President Clinton pushed through a tough crime bill
that dramatically expanded America's prison system, while also eliminating
federal student aid programs for inmates.
"There must be no doubt about whose side we're
on," Clinton argued. "People who commit crimes should be caught,
convicted and punished. This bill puts government on the side of those who
abide by the law, not those who break it."
It was a victory for the tough-on-crime movement, but many
prison experts now say dismantling inmate education programs was misguided.
"I was very disappointed that the policy had been
changed," says Gerald Gaes, who served as an expert on college programs
for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in the 1990s. He has since written
extensively on the impact of higher education behind bars.
Gaes says research shows that college classes actually save
taxpayers money over time, by reducing the number of inmates who break the law
and wind up back in those expensive prison cells.
"It is cost-effective," he says. "Designing
prisons that way will have a long-term benefit for New York state."
by the RAND Corporation and the Department of Justice also
found that participants in prison education programs, including GED education,
college courses and other types of training, were less likely to return to
prison after their release.
Bipartisan critics in New York's Legislature have promised
to kill Cuomo's proposal, with one lawmaker describing it as "Club
Med" for inmates.
But the plan plays very differently with black and Hispanic
lawmakers, who have pushed for prison reforms. Cuomo drew a standing ovation in
February when he spoke to a largely black church congregation in Albany.
"Let's use common sense, the economic cost, the human
cost — let's invest and rehabilitate people so they have a future," .
"That's what works."
With New York's budget due next month, Cuomo says he hopes
to fund college classes in 10 prisons as a trial program. He's had success in
the past pushing controversial ideas that seemed dead on arrival, including
same-sex marriage in 2011 and a strict gun control law last year.
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