This morning, in response to a remorseful prisoner who was dealing drugs from his "prestigious university," Dear Abby advises "After serving your sentence, finish your education..." I have written to remind her (them) that there are ample opportunities to pursue an education, from high school diplomas to Ph.D.'s, from within prison.
I just read the inmate's letter and Abby's response. It appears as though the inmate has served about one year of a four year sentence, and has about one year left to finish his college degree. Right on, John. There is no need for him to wait until he gets out of prison to finish that degree, especially since he seems focused now upon getting his "act together" and finishing college. For him, (as for nearly everyone) there is no time like the present. Once again, good call, John. Tracy<><
While it is true that many people have completed college degrees while incarcerated, it is not an open-and-sut case. Several limiting factors could prevent this. First, the inmate may not have the funds necessary to pay for the costs. (In some, but certainly not all, colleges might be inclined to waive or reduce their fees.) Also, the available funding for inmates has dried up considerably since the federal government prevented them from receiving federal financial aid. Besides, it isn't just tuition, as we know. There are many other costs incurred, including books, materials, fees, and even postage. Second, the inmate may be in an incarcerated state that would prevent him from doing college courses while locked up. In some situations, inmates are severely limited in what they can receive in the mail, especially as it regards to packages. Third, inmates are normally severely hampered when it comes to communications. They normally cannot receive calls, and they can usually only place collect calls to a limited number of parties (who pay exhorbitant rates to receive these calls, BTW, a serious money-generating activity for prisons). There are many other potential barriers, including changes in work assignments, housing assignments, classification levels, and even transfers to other prisons. I'm not saying it cannot be done, but again, there are many potential hurdles to scale. In my three years of directly and indirectly managing inmates, I experienced exactly zero who were completing college courses or credits outside what was offered behind the walls. In one prison, only two courses per semester were offered, allowing 25 of 500 inmates a chance to enroll. In the other prison, there were no high school nor college programs. The notion that inmates have all day on their hands to do nothing, and all the capacity in the world to do college courses--if they only had the drive--is a myth of the same proportions as free cable TV and more rights that normal citizens. It makes for good conversation, but it is largely myth.
