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| Inmates' Graduation Marred by Protests |
| By KESQ |
| Published: 06/27/2003 |
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It's graduation time, but this year, one graduation was surrounded by controversy. As inmates from Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, California, received their college diplomas, prison officers were protesting outside. The inmates say they have a right to an education and a right to better themselves, but a group of prison officers say the inmates' education comes at a price. They say local college students are losing out to those behind bars. For Kenneth Johnson, it has been a long journey to get to this day his graduation day from community college. 'This is one of the proudest days of my life.' Kenneth never made it past the seventh grade. He says because he was uneducated, he supported himself not with a job, but through a life of crime. 'Because of my lack of knowledge, I felt worthless,' he says. 'What's the use?' Kenneth has spent the last seven years at Ironwood State Prison, convicted of burglary. Ironically, it was inside prison that Kenneth finally got an education. But as he was being cheered inside, outside, prison officers were protesting the graduation. 'For every prisoner getting an education, some kid on the street not getting an education,' says prison.' Kelly Breshears is an officer at Ironwood, and his union is calling for the prison to do away with their inmate college education program. The prison program is through the local community college, and the program gets its money from a state fund for students who can't pay for college. The union says the prisoners are taking money that should be used for low-income students in the community. And protesters say because the prisoners are classified as low-income, they get to register before the rest of the students. 'The community college is for the community and the prisoners are getting priority over the community,' says college student Laurie Baumiller. Rick Babb at Ironwood State Prison says the warden has made a promise that no student in the community will be displaced by a prisoner, like Kenneth, who will get out next month. And he says an education is what will keep him from returning to prison. 'If you want to let out a gang of animals,' he says, 'kill off education. That's all you're gonna get.' Despite the protests, the state has just approved Ironwood for a two-year pilot program to test whether education inside prison keeps inmates from returning to a life of crime once they get out. |
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