Educating Incarcerated Students through Californias Community Colleges

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Educating Incarcerated Students through
Californias Community Colleges

• Cheryl Fong CCCCO
• Rick Babb Ironwood State Prison
• Dawn Davison California Institution for Women
• Chris Flores Chaffey College
• Laura Hope Chaffey College
• Sherrie Guerrero Chaffey College

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Cheryl Fong

• CARE Coordinator
• California Community Colleges Chancellors Office

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Overview of Californias Community Colleges

• 2.5 million students community college students
• Demographic diversity
• Age
• Gender
• Income
• Ethnicity
• Preparedness

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Educating Incarcerated Students

• Growing, yet underserved, population
• 5,000 students in 2006
• Coastline Community College 4,000
• Palo Verde College 500
• Chaffey College 57
• Lassen College 160
• Taft College

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Educating Incarcerated Students (cont.)

• Community colleges enrolled incarcerated students
  as early as 2000-2001.
• Prison environment presents significant
  challenges and barriers to education

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Statutory Restrictions, Unique Challenges

• Title 5, Section 58050 Credit and noncredit
  classes taught at federal prisons and local jails
  generate only noncredit FTES.
• Community Colleges not able to collect
  apportionment funding for classes taught at state
  correctional facilities.
• Classes must have open access
• Changes in state law being considered by
  legislature.

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Statutory Restrictions, Unique Challenges

• Colleges are being innovative and resourceful in
  finding options to offer quality programs to
  incarcerated students.
• Colleges
• Navigate within the prison environment
• Contract education
• Distance education
• Instruction in correspondence format
• Counseling best when face-to-face
• Focus on degree-applicable classes

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Statutory Restrictions, Unique Challenges

• Palo Verde College
• Since 2002, nearly 250 incarcerated students
  graduated, most with high honors, from Ironwood
  and Chuckawalla.
• Other community colleges interested in
  replicating the Ironwood model.
• Chaffey College program is an exemplary model of
  how education can make a difference in the lives
  of the students, the college, the prison, and the
  community.

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R.D. Rick Babb

• Community Resources Manager Ironwood State Prison

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About the Department

• The California Department of Corrections
  operates all state prisons, oversees a variety of
  community correctional facilities, and supervises
  all parolees during their re-entry into society.

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About the Department

• Budget 4.8 billion (2001-2002 Budget Act)
• Avg. yearly cost per inmate, 26,894 per
  parolee, 2,743
• Staff 48,380 currently employed including 41,004
  in institutions, 3,165 in Parole, and 3,989 in
  Administration (about 29,873 sworn peace
  officers)
• Felons under CDC jurisdiction 304,749. One year
  change -2,527 (-0.08)

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and about the State Budget

• While it is the largest in terms of staffing,
  Corrections operating budget is just 5.96 of
  the state General Fund in the 2001-2002 Budget
  Act.

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About Prisons
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Facilities

• 33 state prisons
• 38 camps
• 16 community correctional facilities (CCFs)
• 8 prison mother facilities

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Population

• All Institutions 157,142
• Prisons 145,641
• Camps 4,013
• Community Facilities 7,326
• Outside CDC 1,674
• At large 312
• USINS Holds 20,003

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ISP/PVC Pilot Program

• Rationale
• Goals
• Staffing
• Security
• Record keeping and Tracking
• Projected Cost Savings
• Future Expansion

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Providing Higher Education To Incarcerated
Individuals

• Educated inmates serve as teachers/tutors for
  other inmates and are positive role models.
• Educational programs provide structure and lessen
  the need for supervision (stabilizing influence
  enhancing safety and security of all those who
  work or live in facility).
• Reduced rate of re-arrest and offenders ability
  to obtain and maintain employment upon release is
  greatly increased.

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Providing Higher Education To Incarcerated
Individuals

• Arizona Department of Adult Probation concluded
  that the re-arrest rate for those with 2 years of
  college was only 10 compared to 60 for the
  national re-arrest rate.
• Texas Department of Criminal Justice found that
  those with Associates degrees had a recidivism
  rate of 13.7, those with Bachelors degrees, a
  rate of 5.6, and those with Masters degrees, a
  rate of 0.
• (from a research brief Education as Crime
  Prevention, September, 1997).

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Providing Higher Education To Incarcerated
Individuals

• Most offenders involved in the criminal justice
  system come from low-income, urban communities,
  most likely to be underserved in terms of
  educational support programs.
• Youth confined to correctional facilities at the
  median age of 15.5 years and in the ninth grade
  read, on average, at the fourth grade level. More
  than one-third of all juvenile offenders of this
  age group read below the fourth-grade level.

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Providing Higher Education To Incarcerated
Individuals

• Approximately 40 of youth held in detention
  facilities may have some form of learning
  disability.
• Adult offenders are likewise severely
  undereducated. Nineteen percent of adult inmates
  are completely illiterate 40 are functionally
  illiterate (population on the streets,
  illiteracy rate for adult Americans stand at 4
  21 functionally illiterate).

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Providing Higher Education To Incarcerated
Individuals

• An estimated 97 of adult felony inmates are
  eventually discharged from confinement and
  released into the community.
• Recent meta-analysis of post-secondary
  correctional education (PSCE) and recidivism
  revealed statistically significant relationship
  between PSCE and recidivismroughly about 50
  (Chappell, 2004).

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The CDC/PVC Pilot ProjectGoals

• Reduce Departmental Operating Cost
• Reduce Recidivism
• Increase Staff Safety

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Staffing Requirements

• Correctional Counselor II
• Associate Government Program Analyst
• Additional College Professors
• Additional College Support Personnel

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Security

• No Additional Security Staff Required
• Decreased Disciplinary Issues
• Decreased Incidents/Riots
• Decreased Racial/Gang Tension

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Record Keeping and Tracking

• Development of A Database that tracks
• Background Information
• Academic Performance
• Disciplinary
• 3 Year Follow-Up After Release

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Projected Cost Savings

• We anticipate 800 students enrolled.
• A reduction of recidivism to 20 would result in
  288 inmates not returning to prison (36
  reduction)
• This will create a cost savings of over 8
  million a year
• If all 33 prisons participated the savings would
  be 264 million per year

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Future Expansion

• 200 Inmate Housing Unit/1 Per Yard
• 1000 Inmate College Yard
• 33 Institutions Statewide

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Dawn S. Davison

• Warden
• California Institution for Women at Chino

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CIW History

• CIW was established in 1952.
• The main compound was referred to as a campus
  with cottages, each housing 100 women in
  individual rooms.
• A maximum security cell in the hospital was used
  as death row.
• There were no armed towers correctional officers
  were assigned to small sheds along the fence line
  to secure the perimeter.

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CIW History Cont.

• As population grew additional units were built.
• Staff were added, and a fully accredited teaching
  hospital was built.
• In 1962, the citizens of Corona objected to the
  use of the citys name by the prison. The
  superintendent at the time chose a new name. It
  was given the name Frontera, a feminine
  derivative of the word frontier, which means
  new beginning.

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CIW History Cont.

• Also, in 1962 death row was moved to a newly
  built reception center housing unit.
• In 1987, a special housing unit was built as a
  two story maximum security cell block.
• In 2004, a fully accredited correctional
  treatment center was completed.

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Inmate Demographics

• As of October, 2006.
• Permanent Housing Capacity- 2291.
• Temporary Housing-816.
• Total Budgeted Capacity-2687.
• Current Inmate Count-2630.

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Inmate Demographics Cont.

• Inmate Custody Level
• Level 1- 1294
• Level 2- 633
• Level 3- 228
• Level 4- 101
• Camps- 307
• Unclassified- 423

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Inmate Demographics Cont.

• Life Sentence Inmates- 222
• Life Without Possibility of Parole- 33
• Life With Possibility of Parole- 189
• Mental Health Population-742 (with 130 at the
  highest level of mental health needs.)

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Inmate Programs

• Education
• Academic Programs
• Inmate Capacity and Enrollment-135
• Vocational Programs
• Inmate Capacity and Enrollment-108
• Alternative Education Models
• Inmates Enrolled-88

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Inmate Programs Cont.

• Reception Center Bridging
• Inmate Enrollment- 370
• College Programs
• Inmate Enrollment- 118
• Academic programs include classes of all grade
  levels,1- GED. Vocational programs include
  computer and related technologies, graphic arts,
  and janitorial services. Alternative Education
  programs include independent study and distance
  learning. College programs include video based
  and correspondence courses.

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Inmate Programs Cont.

• Breaking Barriers
• Life Plan For Recovery/ Amer-I-Can
• Yes I Can II
• Alcoholics Anonymous/ Narcotics Anonymous (AA/NA)
• Twelve Steps

• Shalom Sisterhood
• Long Termers Organization (LTO)
• Mexican American Resource Association (MARA)
• Convicted Women Against Abuse (CWAA)

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Inmate Programs Cont.

• Sharing Our Stitches (SOS)
• Arts-In-Corrections
• Happy Hats for Kids
• Bicycle Refurbishing Program
• Ask Mentoring
• Parenting

• Literacy Volunteers of America Tutoring Program
  (LVA)
• Forestry Training Program
• Prison Pup Program
• Hobbycraft Program
• Arts in Corrections
• Substance Abuse Treatment Program Forever Free

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Inmate Programs Cont.

• The newest programs at CIW are
• ALPHA Reentry- Faith based reentry
• Prison Industry Authority
• Family Reunification
• Chaffey College

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Chris FloresLaura HopeSherrie Guerrero

• EOPS Coordinator
• Success Center Coordinator
• Dean of Language Arts/CIW
• Chaffey College

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Program History

• Warden Dawn Davison

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Program History

• President Marie Kane
• Chris Flores and Laura Hope
• Summer, 2005 First Classes
• English 550
• Guidance 503

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How we are different

• As close to face-to-face instruction as possible
• Personal relationship with faculty members
• Not a blanket approach like Coast CCD but a
  meaningful partnership with the students and the
  institution
• Success Center

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EOPS

• Funding
• Liaison with Chancellors Office
• Assessment
• Counseling
• Registration
• Book bags
• Supplies

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Classroom Instruction

• Dedication of Harrison
• Taping sister sessions on campus LA 19
• DVDs and correspondence by courier
• Evening classes for CIW students
• Class sizes
• Community students
• Instructor visits to prison

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CIW Success Center

• Success Center
• CRLA certification
• Tutors Program assignment, facilitators,
  instructional leaders
• Computer resources

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Administration

• Scheduling
• Budget
• Cohort - Enrollment management
• Bureaucracy
• Officer and staff educational opportunities
• Research Jim Fillpot / z-drive
• Legislative advocacy

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The Impact

• Improved self-esteem
• Fewer incidents of discipline
• Meaningful experience for faculty members
• 2nd Class beginning this fall
• Graduation for first class Spring, 2008
• Future issues

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Questions?

• Thank you!