Inmates’ education takes a cut

Inmates at several maximum security prisons can no longer participate in education classes or substance abuse treatment due to recent budget cuts.

The Department of Corrections has closed education programs at three of the state’s five maximum-security prisons — Cameron, Potosi and Jefferson City — and eliminated the substance abuse treatment program in the Jefferson City prison, the only program of its kind at a maximum-security facility. The programs being eliminated served approximately 657 inmates at those three prisons in fiscal 2005.

Between 1997 and 2002, 43 percent of inmates who did not obtain GEDs while in prison returned as repeat offenders while only 30 percent who completed GEDs while in prison returned as repeat offenders. Those who did not complete a substance abuse treatment program returned at a rate of 24 percent, but for those who finished the treatment returned at half that rate for 2003 and 2004.

State corrections spokesman John Fougere said the programs will remain available for inmates in lower-level custody who are closer to release than those housed at maximum-security prisons. Inmates who will not see parole in the near future will have to wait for these services until closer to their release date.

“Our number one commitment is public safety, and in a situation where we are working with less resources and being better stewards of taxpayers resources, we have to prioritize what we have,” Fougere said.

The cuts, which total $2.5 million, include contracts with three universities for education and treatment programs. Ending the contracts cost 25 workers their jobs at Northwest Missouri State, 15 jobs at Lincoln University and 9 jobs at Missouri Western State College.

Some of those programs are being continued by transferring corrections employees involved in education and treatment at the Jefferson City prison.

Missouri Western in St. Joseph had an $827,415 contract for an education program at Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron before it was eliminated last month. Program director H.K. Myers said his program to help inmates obtain GEDs had a waiting list of around 100. “This program did more than just teach academics,” he said.

By obtaining a GED, an inmate can make a much higher salary within the prison and be eligible for parole, Myers said. Missouri law requires inmates without a high school diploma to earn, or attempt to earn, a GED before seeking parole.

“If you just incarcerate these guys and they are just let out one day without any resources or education, the evidence is someone is going to get in trouble and someone’s going to get hurt,” said Chris Shove, dean of the Western Institute research center at Missouri Western State College.

Some inmates at Cameron are trying to form informal study groups to help make up for the loss of the GED training, Shove said. “They cannot get any formal education, but they are still trying to educate themselves because they know they need education to get a job when they get out,” he said.

Jimmy Williams, a college graduate serving time at the Cameron prison, worked as a tutor for the education program. Since it ended, he said, his new job is putting toast on inmates’ trays as they walk through the food line.

Williams is attempting to create an informal study program within the prison that would serve as a replacement for the cancelled education program. But his plan wasn’t acceptable; Fougere said rules require that study groups be staffed by outside volunteers.

The corrections department emphasizes that educational opportunities will remain available for inmates once they’re in lower-security prisons. But Shove believes prisoners shouldn’t have to wait.

“By having the program start late, it limits the opportunities for rehabilitation,” he said.