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| Prisons Cut Funds for Inmate Classes |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/10/2003 |
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Eric Todero and Richard Grooms were hurrying last week to take high school equivalency tests before state budget cuts eliminated most prison education programs. The two inmates at Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem hope they passed the exam. They won't get a chance to take it again. Money for the prison's education program ran out March 1, ending what administrators say is one of the best ways of teaching inmates skills and self-respect that they can use to stay out of jail again. 'I used to look in the mirror and think I'm never going to learn anything,' said Grooms, 43, who has been serving a life sentence for murder since he was 18. 'It feels good to learn something.' Todero, 18, is serving a four-year sentence for robbery with assault. Unlike Grooms, who may never get out, Todero thinks that he will have another chance in society - one he thinks the education has prepared him for. The courses for prisoners at the state penitentiary are taught by Chemeketa Community College teachers with funding from the state Department of Corrections. After voters rejected a temporary tax-increase measure in January, corrections had to cut $2.2 million from education programs by June 30. Seventy teachers and staff members were laid off from five community colleges that taught prisoners across the state. The programs ranged from basic literacy to auto mechanic training to beauty care. For the 4,600 prisoners involved, the end of the courses means a dimmer hope for the future. 'People who don't go through the programs go back to that same dope, that same life,' Todero said. 'This prepares us to be better when we get out.' Educators say the cuts will curtail the ability of the prison system to prepare inmates to stay out of jail. 'We see it as a continuum, educating inmates inside and preparing them to come out and be our neighbors,' said Lori Murphy, director of Chemeketa's prison education program. Larry Herring, a prison administrator, said cutting the programs may cost taxpayers in the long run. It costs $25,000 annually to house a single inmate, and about 70 percent of prisoners arrive without a high school education. Herring said that inmates who participate in education programs while in jail have 30 percent less chance of coming back. 'We are not trying to get people to be perfect,' he said. 'Just give them enough skills to stay out of jail and produce in society.' |
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