Thursday June 5. IV 7 5
Econo-College
North Carolina inmates get a chance for a college education
the tar heel
by Gloria Sajgo
Asst. Features Editor
Seven inmates from the Orange County
correctional unit near Hillsborough are
commuting to the UNC campus for classes
under a new program, Econo-College.
Econo-College. in cooperation with
Vocational Rehabilitation and North
Carolina Department of Correction, is
financing the opportunity for inmates to
take college courses while serving sentences.
The program is an outgrowth of the 2-year-old
Outreach Program developed by
UNC's Extension Division to offer
correspondence courses to inmates.
While Outreach is funded by outside
foundations and matching funds from UNC
and the N.C. Department of Corrections.
Econo-College is federally funded. Last
September, UNC received a $87,730 grant
from Title I the Higher Education Act of
196S to start the 18-month program.
Aside from study-release projects, Econo
College also offers college-level
correspondence courses and a psychology
course taught at the prison.
To be eligible for Econo-College. a
prospective student must have an honor
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grade status for acceptable behavior in a
minimum security unit, a high school
diploma (or equivalent) and at least six
months remaining before being eligible for
release or parole.
The staff and advisers of the N.C.
Department of Correction select inmates for
the program on the basis of whether college
level study is likely to increase the applicant's
chances for successful re-entry into the
community.
Inmates receive a grade and three college
credits for each course successfully
completed. John Latshaw. Outreach
Program coordinator, explained that these
credits would increase an inmate's chances
for future employment or for college entry
after parole or release.
1 don't know of any other place where an
inmate can come to prison without a high
school diploma and end up with a college
degree," student-inmate Lonnie McLeod
said of the program.
Most inmates feel they have been received
favorably by regular UNC students. "The
first statement 1 made in my classes was that
I was an inmate, and I was openly accepted."
McLeod said.
"In the past," he added, "the only thing
society offered an inmate was punishment.
Now society is offering us a chance to have a
feeling of belonging."
Another student from the unit. William
"Snake" Cogdell, said, "My identity is no
secret. People are very friendly and helpful.
Coming to UNC has been nothing near to
the devastating experience I had
anticipated."
But one inmate explained his main
purpose at UNC was to study, not to
socialize. "Nobody is aware of my identity,
he said. UI keep to myself -there's a lot of
difference between free people and inmates. .
"Take the language they use. When one
inmate talks with another one. he uses what
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Student inmates relax between classes
we call chain gang language."
Econo-College has introduced the inmates
to new occupational opportunities. For
example. McLeod said he plans to major in
sociology. I want to stay in North Carolina
and get a job as a prison counselor.
"I believe that the key word in prisons
should be redirection not rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation means to restore back to the
way it was; that is the last thing we need. We
came into prison because we couldn't meet
society's demands."
One inmate who prefers to be unnamed
said he is majoring in chemistry. "After I get
off Conditional Release, 1 plan to go
Canada to obtain citizenship and work as a
chemist," he said. I couldn't find a job here
as a chemist, because there is too much
discrimination against people who have a
record."
Econo-College seems to have both
positive and negative potential, Roy Eve,
McLeod's sociology teacher, said. Eve
explained the program can help the inmates
become disinstitutionalized.
"People who have lived in institutions
tend to lose their sense of identity," he said.
"Often when they are released they want to
go back because they had no responsibilities
there."
Eve said the inmates on study-release are
often resented by inmates who never leave
the unit. "They see him (the inmate on study
release) as a kiss-ass' because he is not
following the inmate code," he said. "He is
associating with those outside. But an
inmate must realize he has other friends
outside (the prison)."
Eve said he believes that if an inmate
succeeds in study-release his self image will
improve. "When a person has an education,
the social structure opens up, and he has the
opportunity to reach those goals society
considers important," he said.
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