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College Behind the Walls: Factors Influencing a Post-Secondary Inmate Education Program.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: College Behind the Walls: Factors Influencing a Post-Secondary Inmate Education Program.
Authors: Galley, Jon P., Parsons, Michael H.
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 13
Publication Date: 1976
Document Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Descriptors: Community Colleges, Correctional Education, Correctional Institutions, Counseling, Educational Finance, Institutional Cooperation, Instructional Programs, Performance Contracts, Prisoners, Student Behavior, Teaching Methods, Two Year Colleges
Abstract: This paper describes the prison education program established by Hagerstown Junior College (HJC) at the Maryland Correctional Training Center (MCTC). Although the first courses were offered at MCTC in 1969, it was not until late 1969 that cooperatively prepared guidelines were adopted by HJC and MCTC. An inmate screening committee, on which both the college and the correctional facility are represented, screens and selects applicants to the program. Currently, funding for the program is provided by Basic Educational Opportunity Grant funds and by the Maryland Department of Corrections. The actual educational program is designed to serve the wide range of individual inmate differences; several instructional strategies involving varied lengths of classroom work, size of courses, and instructional delivery techniques are utilized. Individual counseling and testing allow the college to address individual student needs and goals. Students agree to contract with the program to exhibit acceptable behavior, and continuation in the program is dependent upon successful execution of the contract. A campus-release program has been implemented, with an 84.5% success rate. While evaluation of prison programs is difficult it is noted that recidivism rates are lower for program participants, and that, overall, many inmates have acquired previously lacking basic skills. (Author/JDS)
Entry Date: 1977
Accession Number: ED130696
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:This paper describes the prison education program established by Hagerstown Junior College (HJC) at the Maryland Correctional Training Center (MCTC). Although the first courses were offered at MCTC in 1969, it was not until late 1969 that cooperatively prepared guidelines were adopted by HJC and MCTC. An inmate screening committee, on which both the college and the correctional facility are represented, screens and selects applicants to the program. Currently, funding for the program is provided by Basic Educational Opportunity Grant funds and by the Maryland Department of Corrections. The actual educational program is designed to serve the wide range of individual inmate differences; several instructional strategies involving varied lengths of classroom work, size of courses, and instructional delivery techniques are utilized. Individual counseling and testing allow the college to address individual student needs and goals. Students agree to contract with the program to exhibit acceptable behavior, and continuation in the program is dependent upon successful execution of the contract. A campus-release program has been implemented, with an 84.5% success rate. While evaluation of prison programs is difficult it is noted that recidivism rates are lower for program participants, and that, overall, many inmates have acquired previously lacking basic skills. (Author/JDS)