FORUM
When convicts
go to college
Christopher
Zoukis
Guest
Columnist
America spends $80
billion a year keeping
criminals behind bars, but
research has shown that
cost couJd be reduced by
making one thing more
accessible to inmates -
education. * .
"We spend all that
money on incarceration,
but have little to show for
it," says Christopher
Z o u k i s
(www.ChristopherZoukis .c
om), a prison-education
advocate and author of
"College for Convicts: The
Case for Higher Education
in American Prisons"
(McFarland & Co., 2014)
and "Prison Education
Guide" (Prison Legal
News Publishing, 2016).
"It's time for this
money to be put to good
use by helping to reform
prisoners so they can return
to their communities as
productive, law-abiding
members of society."
Giving inmates the
opportunity to earn college
degrees can be a hard sell,
though, because the aver
age taxpayer is more con
cerned with educating then
own children and grand
children than with educat
ing prison inmates, Zoukis
says.
They want to see pris
oners punished, not put on
a track toward a degree, but
that's short-sighted, he
says.
"Most of the public is
unaware that educating
prisoners can have an
impact - a positive one -
on our economy and on the
safety of our communi
ties," Zdukis says.
Here's how: Prisoners
who take classes while
incarcerated have a 13 per
cent lower likelihood of
committing another
offense and ending up back
behind bars, according to a
Rand Corp. study in 2014
that reviewed years of data.
Those prisoners also are
more likely to become
employed once they are
released.
The Rand report says
that for every $1 spent on
correctional education,
there was a $5 reduction in
overall corrections spend
ing.
Right now, though, a
high school diploma or the
GED equivalent is as far as
prisoners can go in most
prisons across the country,
says Zoukis, who is incar
cerated at the Federal
Correctional Institution
Petersburg in Virginia, a
medium-security facility.
"It's better than noth
ing, and will reduce recidi
vism, but a GED isn't
going to qualify someone
for anything other than an
entry-level job," Zoukis
says. "The further we can
go beyond that, the higher
the level of education we
can bring into prisons, the
greater the chances are that
an ex-prisoner will have an
economically stable life
and won't be a repeat
offender."
Zoukis has worked on
his own college degree
from Adams State
University in Colorado via
correspondence. He
expects to earn a bache
lor's degree by the end of
2016 and hopes to have an
MBA by the time he is
released from prison in
2018.
But Zoukis has faced
roadblocks on the way to
working toward a degree,
and he believes changes
need to happen to make the
path smoother for those
who will follow him.
Among the steps Zoukis
says are necessary:
?Support from prison
culture and staff. Zoukis
says he has seen that in
some cases, prison guards
and other staff members
discourage education for
inmates. "Prison education
won't work unless we have
institutional commitment
to ensure a culture of sup
port for education in the
state and federal prison
systems," he says. GED
programs, vocational train
ing and access to college
courses all need to be pro
moted. Prison authorities
need to prohibit guards and
prison staff from refusing
to grant release from work
details to prisoners
enrolled in any educational
or college program, Zoukis
says.
?Eligibility for Pell
grants. Prisoners should
again be made eligible for
Pell grants and other need
based student financial aid,
Zoukis says. Inmates were
banned from using Pell
grants in 1994, but
President Obama has
announced a pilot program
in which a limited number
of prisoners would be able
to use the grants beginning
in the fall. That's a start,
but Zoukis wants to see
that eligibility become
more widespread.
?Partnerships with
community colleges.
Community colleges are
valuable allies in the effort
to educate prisoners, but in
many cases the programs
offered are limited to basic
education, literacy and
non-credit vocational pro
grams, and often they are
taught by prison staff
rather than qualified
instructors, Zoukis says.
"What is needed are more
of the credited vocational
and advanced academic
programs," he says. The
programs also need to be
adequately funded, he says.
Ultimately, it's time for
the nation to decide what is
more important: mass
incarceration or public
education, Zoukis says.
Prisons need to be used for
more than punishment.
Instead, he says, they need
to be seen as treatment and
education centers where
skills can be learned and
problems addressed.
"The end goal of cor
rections is enhanced public
safety," Zoukis says. "It's
not enhanced punishment
for punishment's sake."
Christopher Zoukis,
author of "College for
Convicts: The Case for
Higher Education in
American Prisons"
(McFarland & Co., 2014) and
"Prison Education Guide"
(Prison Legal News
Publishing, 2016), is a lead
ing expert in the field of cor
rectional education. He is the
founder ? of
www.PrisonEducation .com
a n d
www.PrisonLawBlog.com,
and is a contributing writer to
The Huffington Post and
Prison Legal News. He is
incarcerated at the medium
security Federal Correctional
Institution Petersburg in
Virginia.
>
People with criminal histories and
college admissions: Help is available
LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR
Civil rights
UNDER LAW
On May 9, the U.S. Department of
Education (DOE) urged America's col
leges and universities to eliminate barriers
to higher education for an estimated 70
million citizens with criminal records.
The Lawyers1 Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law (Lawyers' Committee)
welcomes DOE's resource guide, "Beyond
the Box," which offers alternatives to
inquiring about criminal histories during
college admissions.
In January 2016, the Lawyers'
Committee launched the "Fair Chance in
Higher Education" initiative, a national
effort to eliminate barriers to educational
opportunity for college applicants who
may have been stopped, detained, or
arrested by the police.
"No one should be denied access to
college or university merely because of
contact with the criminal justice system,"
said Kristen Clarke, president and execu
tive director of the Lawyers' Committee
for Civil Rights Under Law. "The inclu
sion of criminal history related questions
on admissions forms has a disparate
impact on African-Americans and other
minority applicants seeking access to
higher educational opportunities. The U.S.
Department of Education has taken an
important first step with the issuance of
today's guidance, and we urge expanded
federal enforcement in this area to ensure
*
that all schools across our nation lift one of
the most significant hurdles faced by
minority applicants today. The racial dis
parities in our criminal justice system and
the collateral consequences faced by those
brought into contact with the justice sys
tem makes this an issue that warrants
greater attention."
The first phase of the Fair Chance in
Higher Education initiative sought infor
mation from 17 colleges and universities
in seven states in the South which require
applicants to disclose contact with the
criminal justice system, including arrests
that did not lead to conviction. To date,
four colleges have reached agreement with
the Lawyers' Committee to revise their
admissions policies to eliminate questions
related to arrest history. These include
Auburn University, Auburn University -
Montgomery, Clark Atlanta University and
Emory & Henry University. The Lawyers'
Committee also issued a call for The
Common Application to eliminate the dis
closure of convictions and high school dis
*>?
ciplinary violations. The Common
Application is used by more than 600 col
leges across the country. The Lawyers'
Committee is continuing to investigate the
practices of other universities across the
country.
According to the U.S. Sentencing
Commission, "Demographic characteris
tics are now more strongly correlated with
sentencing outcomes than during previous
periods." Research suggests that minority
defendants are treated differently at sever
al stages of the criminal justice process. In
addition, many colleges ask prospective
students to disclose school discipline his
tories. Yet according to the Civil Rights
Data Collection (CDRC), there are vast
racial disparities in the use of suspensions
and expulsions to address student behav
ior. Overly punitive discipline policies can
negatively impact minority students by
disproportionately contributing to their
referral to the juvenile justice system.
"We are particularly concerned that
many applicants may be deterred from
pursuing higher education when colleges
.require the disclosure of arrest or convic
tion histories or school discipline histories
on their application forms," said Brenda
Shum, director . of the Educational
Opportunities Project of the Lawyers'
Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
The Lawyers' Committee understands
the importance of safe learning environ
ments. Given the lack of evidence that
seeking the mandatory disclosure of arrest,
conviction or discipline history improves
campus safety, the Lawyers' Committee
seeks the elimination of all questions relat
ed to such history on college applications.
For those institutions that continue to seek
such information, however, "Beyond the
Box" offers a number of recommenda
tions, including delaying disclosure until
after admissions, narrowly tailoring ques
tions, and training admissions personnel
on the effective use of criminal history
information.
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law (Lawyers' Committee),
a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was
formed in 1963 at the request of President
John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar
in providing legal services to address
racial discrimination. For more informa
tion about the Lawyers' Committee, visit
www lawyerscommittee arg.