David -my responses to your questions are in bold below. - Bill



I would like our guests -- and others -- to explore some other 
challenging questions:

1. One of the characteristics of a successful prison education 
program (Gerber and Fritsch,  and Luiden and Perry) is follow-up with 
inmates after release.  Can you describe some models that do this 
well, and that lead to released prisoners continuing their education 
in the community? 

I am so impressed by the ?best practices? reported on by Carole Scholl in 
Oregon, Cay Buser in Maryland, Taylor Stoehr in Massachusetts & John 
Gordon in NYC. I mostly know programs based ?on the inside? (which of 
course reveals a key problem: the need for programs that span both sides 
of the fence.) The Federal Bureau of Prisons is working on a Re-entry 
partnership with Federal Probation and the US Department of Labor and 
piloting it in the St. Louis area. Sylvia McCollum at the FBOP has 
developed a broad network of community partnerships, mostly relating to 
job fairs. Also, the national Institute of Corrections has done a great 
deal of training in this area. See 
http://www.nicic.org/CommunityCorrections


2.  Do you know of examples of prisons or jails that invite community 
education programs to provide basic education inside so that when 
inmates are released there is continuity with the community education 
program outside? Can you tell us about how the model(s) works?

The best example of a community partnership related to pre and post 
release that I can give no longer exists (just one example of a powerful 
program that vaporized when Pell Grants were cut off): It was a program at 
Marist College, NY. They provided a full range of literacy and 
post-secondary programs. Marist also had a college coordinator (Benay 
Rubenstein, who continues to do extraordinary work through John Jay 
College) housed in the prison (Otisville) who arranged for learners to 
continue their education at Marist after release. 

Today, most federal prisons have strong partnerships with the community, 
including individual contractors, local colleges and trade unions, and 
faith based communities. But I suspect ? at least as it pertains to 
federal prisoners ? that few of these partnerships establish relationships 
with individuals on the inside and then nurture these relationships on the 
outside. (I know that some such programs exist, especially with 
faith-based groups, but not aware of any programs that provide education 
support to individuals on the inside and then support them through the 
transition to the outside. (If such inside/outside programs exist, I 
apologize for my ignorance and would love to know about them!) There is a 
huge problem in the federal system, since so many prisoners live 100s of 
miles from home... 

3. Is there any way that a web-based learning system could be offered 
to prisoners for self study inside that they could continue to use 
outside in a library, community technology center or at a community 
education program? I know that prisons and jails cannot offer 
Internet access, but are there any examples of a version of a web 
site being run on an internal server, in the prison, offering 
(nearly) the same experience as the user would have with internet 
access to the web site?

I see some signs of hope here. Again the FBOP has been slowly 
experimenting with web-based applications. For example they are providing 
inmate law library services through an intra-net server that goes out to 
the web periodically, downloads files and distributes material via a 
closed system. They are also piloting e-mail systems at a few 
institutions, and, as I mentioned yesterday, they have begun some father 
?child video-conferencing. The federal prison systems is slowly rethinking 
safe ways to use technology. But it is a slow evolution. Ironically, as 
correspondence courses continue to proliferate via the internet, prisoners 
have access to fewer of them.   
 
I hope others will continue to post their questions and comments. 
Steve Steurer plans to join us tomorrow or Monday, and the discussion 
continues through Tuesday.

Those who have just joined us, and others, the postings in this 
discussion are archived at

http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/specialtopics/2006/date.html

If you would like to know more about other National Institute for 
Literacy-sponsored discussion lists, you will find information at

http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/specialtopics/2006/date.html


David J. Rosen




"SCHOLL Carole A" <carole.a.scholl at co.multnomah.or.us> 
Sent by: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov
09/21/2006 02:28 PM
Please respond to
specialtopics at nifl.gov


To
<specialtopics at nifl.gov>
cc

Subject
[SpecialTopics 230] Re: Community education for inmates who are released






In Portland Oregon, the Londer Learning Center is a unit of  adult
community corrections (the Multnomah County Department of Community
Justice). Our GED/ABE/ESL program each year serves  500+  adults who are
released from jail, prison and who on probation and/or involved in
substance abuse treatment. Referrals come from POs, treatment centers,
courts and caseworkers. 

We are successful in academics, as well as in reducing recidivism. Some
reasons for our success:
1.  We only serve offenders who are at high- to medium-risk to reoffend.
These adults in "transition" who work toward positive goals with other
adults in transition. We also incorporate rehabilitation practices in
our adult education program. Teachers are all trained in motivational
interviewing, change theory (stages of change) and cognitive behavioral
change--evidenced based practices used in corrections.  We provide a
"holistic" approach--communicating often with POs, counselors and
caseworkers.
2. All staff is trained in working with adults with learning
disabilities/difficulties, and we keep classes small.

In sum: most of our students would not succeed if they went from
jail/prison to a community college. Upon release they face numerous
obstacles (housing, addictions rehab, etc). Just to make it onto a
campus which accepts students 2 or 3x a term is daunting. 

I certainly recommend community-based transitions education programs for
incarcerated adults, but also feel that success lies in partnership with
probation offices, an awareness of learning disabilities,  and training
in psycho-social factors than influence change. For more information
about the Londer Learning Center, please go to our website at:
http://www.co.multnomah.or.us/dcj/acjlonder.shtml 

Thanks--Carole Scholl, Manager, Londer Learning Center
Multnomah County Department of Community Justice
503-988-6828


-----Original Message-----
From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of David Rosen
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 3:53 AM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 223] Community education for inmates who are
released


Hello Colleagues,

I would like our guests -- and others -- to explore some other 
challenging questions:

1. One of the characteristics of a successful prison education 
program (Gerber and Fritsch,  and Luiden and Perry) is follow-up with 
inmates after release.  Can you describe some models that do this 
well, and that lead to released prisoners continuing their education 
in the community?

2.  Do you know of examples of prisons or jails that invite community 
education programs to provide basic education inside so that when 
inmates are released there is continuity with the community education 
program outside? Can you tell us about how the model(s) works?

3. Is there any way that a web-based learning system could be offered 
to prisoners for self study inside that they could continue to use 
outside in a library, community technology center or at a community 
education program? I know that prisons and jails cannot offer 
Internet access, but are there any examples of a version of a web 
site being run on an internal server, in the prison, offering 
(nearly) the same experience as the user would have with internet 
access to the web site?

I hope others will continue to post their questions and comments. 
Steve Steurer plans to join us tomorrow or Monday, and the discussion 
continues through Tuesday.

Those who have just joined us, and others, the postings in this 
discussion are archived at

http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/specialtopics/2006/date.html

If you would like to know more about other National Institute for 
Literacy-sponsored discussion lists, you will find information at

http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/specialtopics/2006/date.html


David J. Rosen
Special Topics discussion Moderator
djrosen at comcast.net





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