Ourview
Prisoners
deserve education
Society owes nothing to the men and women
locked up in our state’s penitentiary system.
Okay, so maybe we do not owe them anything,
but it is in our own best interest to provide
these folks with an education.
Studies have shown that educating prisoners
“can be the deciding factor in improving
an inmate’s future after parole.”
Society has already established the value
of education for improving society. We show
our support with our laws for mandatory
education for children and young adults.
Education is one of the fundamental keys
to a compassionate, critical and rational
society.
So why has education in prisons, the one
place where we can almost be sure that compassionate,
critical and rational thinking is lacking,
dropped from 71 percent in 1994 to 37 percent
in 1998?
The most outstanding reason that prison
education has declined is because of victims’
rights groups. These groups put pressure
on government officials to end the practice
of teaching prisoners why they shouldn’t
do what they did to get put in prison in
the first place.
Former Gov. Pete Wilson signed a bill in
1993 that revoked the state funds that were
being allocated to providing inmates with
a higher education. Soon after that, in
1994, former President Bill Clinton signed
legislation “that eliminated the federal
scholarship Pell Grants for inmates.” More
than 350 prisons lost their college programs
as a result.
These victims’ rights groups were angered
by the fact that convicted criminals, such
as rapists, murderers, arsonists and burglars
were being provided with an education while
serving their debt to society. So instead
we force them to watch T.V. and work out
in the exercise yard. And when they are
released, they have learned nothing and
have no other alternative (in their eyes)
than to return to the life which led them
to prison.
Gov. Gray Davis, in his infinite wisdom,
has cut funding for public education but
to continue his tough-on-crime image, has
refused to cut funding to prisons. But the
funding for the prisons is not going to
rehabilitation or prevention. The funding
is going to more walls, more guards and
ultimately, more prisoners.
A plan was proposed to Gov. Gray Davis that
would allow non-violent criminals to leave
prison one month earlier than their original
release dates. Releasing these prisoners
would have helped to alleviate California’s
painful deficit. Gov. Gray Davis quickly
dispelled any fears that these inhuman non-violent
monsters would be roaming free 30 days earlier
than their original sentence. Maybe 30 days
of T.V. and exercise is the determining
factor between criminals and progressive
members of society.
San Quentin State Penitentiary is the last
prison in California to offer associate
degrees to its inmates. Even San Quentin’s
warden, Jeanne Woodford, has expressed support
for the program. She said that inmates that
work toward degree programs make better
parents and are less likely to return to
prison.
“We need to break the cycle,” Woodford said.
“We need to stop this growing trend of needing
more prisons.”
Education is the key to a better society.
We are not only punishing inmates by not
allowing them to receive an education, we
are depriving ourselves of a more educated
and productive society.
It seems that Gov. Gray Davis’ priorities
were lost along with the $34 billion we
are in the hole.
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