Skeptics Beware: Change is Coming

Recently as I came back from a visit I overheard a conversation between two officers who were very critical of the new educational focus at the prison where I am housed. The conversation went something like this (some language has been changed to make it suitable for my blog):

Officer #1: "I don't know why the Warden thinks these programs are going to do any good."
Officer #2: "Yeah, these prisoners won't change."
Officer #1: "I am just waiting for one of these guys from the Vocational Village to get his parole and go out and rob, rape, or murder someone so people can see that they are wasting their money educating these prisoners."

I wasn't surprised to hear that these officers held this view, yet it's a sad reality that many officers and prison officials do not believe that criminals can change their thinking and behavior. 

Another sad reality is that even with vocational training or higher education, some prisoners will be released and commit more crimes. But as studies have shown, vocational and college education does reduce reoffense rates, even if it doesn't entirely eliminate repeated crimes. 

According to a study conducted by the RAND Corporation in 2014*, prisoners who participated in remedial, vocational, and post-secondary education while incarcerated are 43% less likely to reoffend within 3 years. That's a pretty significant reduction in reoffense rates. This reduction means 43% fewer victims of crimes, 43% fewer arrests for law enforcement to make, 43% fewer cases for the courts to handle, and 43% fewer prisoners the law abiding taxpayers must pay to keep locked up. 

Perhaps the criticism and skepticism expressed by these officers is driven by a fear of losing their jobs; yet, if you ask the children of prisoners who have their fathers back and the mother who have their sons back, they would say it was worth a few lost jobs. If you were able to ask those who would have been victims of crimes were these prisoners not educated they would thank those who were courageous enough to go against the criticism of the opposition. 

I know those of us who are benefiting by this education, and who face a brighter future because of it, are grateful. 

Regardless of what statistics may say, some skeptics, like these officers I overheard, will always oppose anything that may improve a prisoner's life, because they don't believe we are valuable enough to invest in. For people who see value in those of us who failed to make the right choices in the past, we prisoners now have a duty to not only stay out of prison, but also to give back to the communities we offended.

* RAND Corporation, "How Effective is Correctional Education, and Where Do We Go From Here?" (2014)