Seventeen community colleges participate in a program, through the Windham School District, which allows prison inmates to take courses that are subsidized by the state. The prisoners are, by law, required to pay back the tuition, but most do not, and enforcement is almost non-existent. According to a recent article in the Austin American-Statesman by Mike Ward, the program may be headed for elimination.
In practical terms this means that almost all prisoners would no longer be able to earn the credits and skills to make a transition to the work force once they get out—and they almost always get out. Those who receive added education are statistically less likely to return to prison, but lawmakers chafe at the idea of "free" tuition for convicted felons, while such costs rise rapidly for everyone else, and while student aid is subject to major cuts during this Regular Session.
Many community college instructors devote all or part of their teaching responsibilities at nearby prison units. Obviously, these individuals will be affected also if the program is cut back severely or eliminated.
Here are a couple of passages from the AAS piece:
Under the program, convicts who are within seven years of release, who have a record of good conduct and who meet the entrance requirements for the courses taught by the 17 Texas junior colleges that participate can enroll.
The courses are taught by college instructors inside Texas' 112 state prisons, officials said, for convicts who are working on associate degrees in arts, science and applied sciences.
They can take three hours of academic courses per semester — at an average cost of $182 for a community college course or $500 for a university-level course. Or they can take a six-hour college-level vocational course, at an average cost of $972.
Funding comes from an appropriation to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which last budget year totaled about $2.1 million, officials said.
When felons sign up, they agree to repay the state for all the costs of the schooling when they're released or paroled.
And:
Windham officials said the repayment rate has increased since the program started, from $119,078 in 2000 to $555,539 last year.
Senate Education Committee Chairman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano , who has proposed cutting Windham's funding to help make up for the budget shortfall facing public schools, said she was unaware of the college-in-prison program.
"I'm surprised to hear this," she said. "I think maybe there's some additional money that we can cut over there."
Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston, said he, too, was unaware of the program, even though he has headed the prison oversight committee for 15 years.
"I don't know who thought this was a good idea, but it's not sounding like that to me right now, I got to tell you," he said. "I'm surprised any of them are paying back anything.
"My vote is to cut it."
Comments