Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Cuts to vocational ed for prisoners will increase recidivism, near-term incarceration costs

I can't tell if it's part of the $34 million already slated to be cut from the Windham School District, but Mike Ward at the Austin Statesman reports that key legislative leaders (Shapiro, Whitmire and Madden) want to eliminate funding for post-secondary education of inmates. Ward's story opens:
For the past decade, Texas' imprisoned criminals have been allowed to work on college degrees and take vocational courses while behind bars.

They're supposed to repay taxpayers once they get out. But of the more than 22,000 felon-students who are out of prison, only 6,630 have repaid the state in full, to the tune of $4.2 million, according to state records.

The remaining 16,088 ex-convicts owe the state $9.5 million, the records show.

Over the 10 years the program has been in effect, the state has spent $26.9 million on higher education for inmates, while getting reimbursed only $4.7 million.
$22 million (net) over ten years isn't much given the scope of the state budget, and the repayment completion rate (33%) is actually higher than I would expect. I wonder how many people attending college in the free world over the last ten years have fully paid off all their student loans?

This is a penny wise pound foolish cut. According to a recent report (pdf) on the Windham School District from the LBB, prisoners who receive college-level vocational training are much more likely to be employed upon release than their peers: "In the College Credit Vocational Program study group (including both the Prison & State Jail Group and the Intensive Treatment Programs Group), the vocational completers were 1.6 times more likely to be employed within one year of release (55.7 percent) than the vocational noncompleters (34.1 percent), and they were 1.4 times more likely to be employed within one year than the non-vocational offenders (39.8 percent)." TDCJ doesn't yet track recidivism data for Windham students, but the employment gains described for those attending college-level vocational classes are impressive. They also receive higher wages after they're out than other inmates and have better employment retention rates.

Those who completed college vocational programs (83-85% of those who enroll) have, by far, the highest employment rates among ex-inmates one year out. If cuts to vocational programming in prison reduces employment rates and increases recidivism, even by a few points, the amount spent on these programs will look like a pittance compared to increased incarceration costs. Already, the state faces a 10-12,000 bed shortfall by 2013 if suggested budget cuts are enacted, and any increased recidivism would boost those numbers even higher.

Consider: In 2011, according to LBB, there are 2,418 offenders enrolled in college vocational classes at a cost of about $2.2 million per year. Those offenders are 40%  more likely to be employed a year after incarceration than those who received no vocational training; 55.7% of them will be employed one year out compared to 39.8% for those without vocational training. Since unemployment is a major risk factor for reoffending, it stands to reason that reductions in programming that contributes to ex-inmate employment gains will increase incarceration costs down the line.

Meanwhile, $2.2 million per year is hardly a drop in the budget bucket when you consider Governor Perry has demanded TDCJ cut $786 million from its biennial budget. These type of nickel and dime proposals not only don't get close to the level of cuts needed, they set the agency up to fail in the long run by increasing recidivism and future incarceration costs.

This is happening because legislators so far can't seem to muster the political courage to take the obvious, big steps needed to reduce overall spending at TDCJ: Closing prisons, staff reductions, reducing the number of people we incarcerate, and ramping up much-less expensive community supervision, treatment and diversion programs. Instead, public debates have focused, for the most part, on suggested cuts that are trivial, harmful, or both. We're getting pretty deep into session for nobody to be talking about the big stuff yet.

RELATED: Vocational ed boosts ex-offender employment: The counterargument to cuts at Windham School District

50 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel that if the prisoners want to obtain an education that they should have to pay for it before hand just like in the real world. They get money for commisary items so that they can eat candy while watching t.v.. So let them pony up the dough for their future just like everybody else.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

"Everybody else," of course, gets student loans they pay back later.

Anonymous said...

The bottom line is that if they walk out of prison with no education and no skills, the chances they will re-offend increase exponentially.

Anonymous said...

With no education and no skills? If they really want to better themselves while in prison then they will pay for it. It is not the State's (ours) reaponsibility to offer them education, then when they get sent to prison, give them more chances for free education. That is kind of like a "do over " when you were a kid. The hard lessons are the best learned. Giving a convicted felon a free ride while in prison will not keep them from committing crimes when they get out. Only they can take the steps to assure that they will remain crime free....not society...

Gritsforbreakfast said...

"Only they can take the steps to assure that they will remain crime free"

Getting an education, of course, is one of those steps.

Audrey said...

WOW!!! Of all people heading this up...Florence Shapiro....she should know the importance of education!!! She was a speech teacher at Richardson High School in the early 70's...she is an educator for Christ's sake....before she embarked on her political aspirations and the spotlight.

It is my impression that a whole lot of the prison population, many with only an elementary school education (when tested) has some form of learning disability (special needs). I worked with these people (albeit they wouldn't let me teach or be a teacher's aid)but I helped them by tutoring in the dorms. I did this because of my interest in education, specifically special needs, and just wanting to help (and again starving for a challenge). When you drop all the bully bullshit and "need to be cool stuff" that goes on in prison and come to know the authentic person you find a whole lot of people who have very little self-esteem, who were failures in school and had a horrible family life, that did not encourage education....etc. So many of the people I spent time with needed to get through math by having very visual and tactile type examples to make sense of abstract ideas. In reading I ran in to several that were scrambling letters in a word or actually scrambling the words in a phrase. That is special needs. The school system when they were growing up flat out failed these people. The other thing I found was that many of these people were predominantly right brained people...many were artists, several sang so well it would bring tears to a person's eyes. The school system as we know it (and the world for that matter) has a left brained bias. When kids have trouble in school they quite often cover it up with behavior issues so as not to lose face with their peers. These particular behavior issues escalated to bad choices, bringing them to the pen.

One more thing, and now I am telling my age, is when I was in tenth grade my family moved from Maryland to Tallahassee, Fla. (considered deep south) and that happened to be in the school year 69-70 the first year for busing (Federal mandate). The school was loaded with students "from the other side of town" and they could not even read!!! They were high school level kids being passed from year to year with the complete inability to read. You cannot blame them for the system's inequities. Now the school system is a bit better, but the people hanging out in prison are coming from these other eras...the system has failed them and now whose responsibility is it to right a wrong...if not society?

Scott, your blog posting is great (as always)....the human side of all the statistics is that education increases self-esteem and skill sets. How proud are these people when at the age of 30,40 or 50 finally pass the GED. You should see their faces!! There is a huge difference in how they see themselves...and yes, they will (and do) come out and work a minimum wage job rather than going for their experience of the fast money in drug trafficking and prostitution.

Taking education out of prison is a big mistake. The Texas justice system (via Legislature) keeps making decisions that reinforces recidivism and the growth of their big business and then pretends to care about the recidivism rates, quite often coming to the erroneous conclusion that those incarcerated are not rehabitable. Ohhhh, Florence Shapiro, you used to know better!!

Anonymous said...

WOW....ya'll really know how to change context and make things fit to what you want to hear. I said "LET THEM PAY FOR THEIR EDUCATION"!!!!!! Just like I had to and everyone else in my family had to do. Since when is being incarcerated in a prison an excuse for getting a free education. They had the same chances at education that all people have in our great country, but they screwed it up. So...instead of letting them (prisoners) have money to purchase commisary items first, lets make them put it towards "THEIR" educational needs if they want to receive an education.

sunray's wench said...

Anon @11.58 ~ inmates dont get their own commissary money, it comes from their families and/or friends. Inmates in TDCJ can't earn money as they do in other states. Inmates who do not qualify for the state-funded GED equivalency programmes (often because they already have their GED or they are said to be too old to receive funding) have no choice but to ask their friends and families to find a correspondence course for them to do, paid for of course by the friends and families.

Why not just be up-front and create a new "inmate family tax", so that you can cream off a portion of any income earned by any family member of an inmate, which could then be used to fund anything that anyone decides the inmates should have?

[/sarcasm]

Gritsforbreakfast said...

11:58, did neither you nor anyone in your family qualify for student loans? That seems unlikely.

Most people don't pay out of pocket for college. They borrow and pay later, which is exactly what's happening here.

As I mentioned the other day, inmates could pay more if they were allowed to earn.

Anonymous said...

Actually I did receive student loans to obtain my degree....so I guess you don't know everything.

And how are inmates going to earn?

Are we supposed to pay them for jobs that they are already doing while in prison?

If so, then we are still paying for their education.
Many of these convicted felons have family members that send them money on a regular basis. Let them use that money for their education...not mine, or any other taxpayers.
We already pay for the expense of keeping them there, so why put more burden on us by making us pay for their education?
If the prisons were allowed to operate the agriculture operations the way it was prior to the 1980's we would not even be having this conversation.

Anonymous said...

I think a tax on loser relatives that are locked up in prison would be a great way to keep the educational needs met....Thanks Sunray for your insight...

Anonymous said...

Maybe even extend it to persons on their visitation list as well?
That would create even more revenue....with forward thinkers like this I believe the problem will be fixed in no time!!!

Audrey said...

To our friend Anonymous 11:58,12:31,12:33,12:37

How about NOT locking up everybody that somebody in power doesn't like....then there won't be a problem! If people choose to play out their death wishes with drugs, prostitution, etc then so be it. If people decide to falsely accuse others or wrongly convict the innocent...then incarcerate them instead. Then the education issues of the poor will not be an issue. How is that for context?

Gritsforbreakfast said...

12:31/33/37, the point is, if YOU received student loans then you're full of shit when you say "they should have to pay for it before hand just like in the real world." After all, you didn't.

Also, just to show you're universally and not just specifically clueless, prisoners do work agricultural operations at TDCJ, they just have five+ times as many inmates now as your glory days "prior to the the 1980s," so that's not enough work to keep everybody busy like it was before the prison boom.

As for who would pay inmates to work, there are employers willing to pay them, but that the Legislature won't let them.

It sucks when reality gets in the way of your prejudices, huh? Good thing for you you're too big a coward to put your name on your trolling. I don't blame you for being too embarrassed to publicly own such opinions.

Angee said...

Some people here sure prefer that the 112 prison units be stuffed to capacity no matter what the cost. When the Windham School was introduced into the system it must have been with the idea of rehabilitation. And those thousands of prison earned GED's have been a great source of personal pride.We can't have that can we? We can't have inmates coming out smarter than they went in! It threatens the entire corrupt, self-serving, disgusting system.

Angee said...

We surely can't have inmates coming out smarter than when they went in. It might upset the entire corrupt, self-serving, nauseating system. It is important that inmates return. A full house insures no prison closings and that is the goal regardless of cost. The blatant arrogance that shows up here is an example of why our nation is broken. Unity means we all work together for the good of all. Some people never tire of wallowing in a pig sty.

A Texas PO said...

I have never understood this aversion to prisoner education. After all, study after study after study have proven, time and time again, that improvements in education levels (even minor ones) for those who are incarcerated has a huge impact on recidivism. Sure, there are cases where someone who received a GED while in prison ended up back in prison; that is to be expected since we don't live in a utopian society. Now, I agree that prisoners should pay back their higher ed once they are released, but we should all expect that few will pay back their education in full. In fact, 33% is an amazing rate that should be lauded! My concern here is not so much the cost to us as taxpayers for the higher ed, but the cuts in vocational training. I know that most offenders entered TDC units have few employable skills upon entering the units. Once released, only one of two scenarios will play out: either they are released with a new skill that will help them get a better job and live a better life, or they will be released with a non-trade skill that will lead to more criminal behavior, more victimization, and more incarceration. As CJAD is fond of telling us, these folks will be your neighbors and my neighbors. Do you want your neighbors to be productive, tax-paying, and law-abiding? Or would you rather have them be deviant and victimizing? I'd pay the bill for the education. Crime and education have always been intertwined.

Anonymous said...

Did not anyone read the entire article in AAS? Talk about not being educated---neither Sen. Shapiro nor Sen. Whitmire even knew that college level education classes were being offered! Sen. Whitmire has been committee chairman of the criminal justice committee for 15 years! So not only are many of those responding to the Grits for Breakfast blog uninformed, but so are our elected officials. If you know anyone who's in prison, you know that money for commissary items comes from their friends and families; so basically since those families are taxpaying individuals the writer who thinks there should be an 'inmate family tax' would have those with loved ones in prison being doubly taxed. In addition, many in prison are due to drugs; and drugs have invaded ALL segments of our socio-economic make up. Bad choices are not limited to poor or dysfunctional families. I would say--ask around your family and friends, and you will find that there is very likely an incarcerated person in their family.

Angee said...

Sure we read it. They also did not know that the new inmate phone system has incoming e-mail capabilities for inmates. It is impossible to make educated decisions without knowledge of basic facts. Contraband wasn't a hot topic until Whitmire got a threat. He has been in reactive mode ever sense and it is way over the top.

Anonymous said...

Sure we read it all...by the time the system rings them out, the people making it to prison have been bankrupted by legal fees. Further not everybody in prison is there because of bad choices...there are plenty who are innocent but can't beat the corrupted system.

Anonymous said...

http://www.lonestarreport.org/Home/tabid/38/EntryId/579/Whitmire-Patrick-eyeing-prison-seminary-program.aspx

And Senator Whitmire says he didn't know anything about offenders in college?

Anonymous said...

There goes the TDCJ truck driving school slated for Beeville!
Heck now we got to hire staff employees to drive the 18 wheelers. Perhaps they just need to implement a system to pay the state back once they get out, sort of like if you do not make your monthly child obligations..

Angee said...

The Windham School was established by Texas legislatures in 1969. If Whitmire and his cronies have the power to oust the 9 member board appointed by the governor perhaps they will use the same tactics on the parole board and start over from scratch. Somehow I don't think Perry would take kindly to having his actions his authority trampled in either situation.

Anonymous said...

I just had an amazing idea for all of the people who feel that the taxpayers should continue to provide education for convicted FELONS.....

We could call it the ADOPT A CONVICT PROGRAM.....

The prisoners could send you a photograph and a short bio, and you can adopt them and send them money every month. They in turn could send you regular reports on their welfare, progress, etc.

I got a good feeling about this one people....

Anonymous said...

I think that the Prison System should be allowed "rent" out prisoners to reduce the cost of operations. This money could be utilized in too many ways to mention.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

7:53, here in the Rick-Perry era, Texas releases some 72,000+ convicted felons per year from prison. The cost to taxpayers is much greater if, when they leave, they're unprepared and fail instead of successfully reentering society.

While I'm sure you think your sarcasm is clever, you don't seem to understand what happens when this programming gets cut - just like in 2003, it costs the taxpayers much more.

But hey, don't let reality get in the way of your self-righteousness, it might take away some of the fun.

Anonymous said...

Oh...Did someone wake up grumpy this morning?

Yet again.... Here we go with the if you don't give them an education they are going to commit more crime when they get out of prison song.

I believe that this particular issue is MONEY...or lack thereof.
If a person wants to rehabilitate while in prison they will do so whether or not they receive an education while they are there.
Change....TRUE change comes from within...I understand that people need options to DO THE RIGHT THING, but these are people that have already had those options and decided not to pursue them, and hence received a prison sentence.
If a prisoner wants to further their education let them fund it...If they are allowed to receive coddling while incarcerated, they are really going to be shocked when released unless they have family or friends to help.
Regardless of their educational acheivements while in prison.
Plane and simple....if it cost more, it needs to be cut. Afterall, there are many programs available to them when they are released..

Gritsforbreakfast said...

I didn't wake up grumpy, 11:02, just sentient.

You say "Plane (sic) and simple....if it cost (sic) more, it needs to be cut."

But plain and simple, future incarceration costs more than education programs today, so if you cut education programs, taxpayers pay more overall because of higher recidivism. That's not speculation, it's exactly what happened last time these programs were cut.

But again, think what you want: Don't let reality spoil your fun.

Anonymous said...

Here's a question: what percent of the "college" costs are really vocational training? Mike Ward's article leads one to believe that inmates are getting loans to take general college classes. That may be part of the total cost, but it appeared more likely that the bulk of money went to community college vocational training. Research shows that the majority of the public is in favor of vocational training for prisoners (despite some of the posts here) and, in most states, it is an essential part of prison programming. Here, it seems that prisoners are expected to pay back the costs ... and, amazingly, some do when they get out. I think saying it is "college' pushes a lot of people's buttons because not everyone can afford college for themselves or their children; but, I would really like to see what percent of the total cost was for vocational classes.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

12:18, as I understand it, it's all or almost all college vocational classes. You're exactly right.

Anonymous said...

OK Scott.....Do you really think there are not going to people in prison in the future?

People are going to be sent to prison as long as there are LAWS that are being broken....it is kind like for every action there is a reaction.

Lets get past the fact of how many beds there are in the prison system....The state is going to make sure that they are all filled no matter if there is 1500, or 150,000. That is just a fact of life.

The point of the matter is trying to LOWER the cost of maintaining the prisons and the people who are locked away.
One way to lower the cost is to put some of the burden of said onto the consumers (prisoners).

It is the same thing that happens in business. The higher price to manufacture or produce a certain product is transferred to the consumer.

Obtaining a College degree while in prison is not a neccessity, it is something extra. Neither you nor I was told that we would receive a college degree free of charge upon the completion of high school.

Yet again I am sure that the retort will be uneducated people will continue to commit crimes so we owe it to ourselves to educate them.....Well as I have said before, a person will change when THEY wish to....not just because they have a better education.

Anonymous said...

The vocational training that prisoners receive while in prison is usually related to some type of industrial application. A lot of prisoners are released and or paroled to areas where there are no jobs of this type.
So what are they supposed to do?
They cannot move to where the jobs are due to parole restrictions, so they will wind up doing what got them into trouble in the first place.....but at least they will be able to more understand the justice system with their newly obtained education.....

Anonymous said...

I kind of like the adaopt a convict program idea......quite refreshing....someone is thinking outside the box...

Audrey said...

Certainly, the "adopt a convict" program is a way of raising awareness of what is going on in the Texas justice system. Then perhaps voters will come to have a better understanding of what and who they are voting for and they can make more educated decisions.

sunray's wench said...

@ Anon 5.25 ~ my inmate family tax comment was in sarcasm, just in case you didn't realise what the "[/sarcasm]" bit at the end was. But to be honest it wouldn't be a completely bad thing, because then at least the rest of Git Tuff Texas would have to acknowledge that inmate friends and family contribute a lot of money into the Corrections system in the state.

Anonymous said...

What money are your friends and family contributing to the Corrections?

If you mean that you are sending it to the inmate trust fund, then that means it goes to the inmate, and therefore goes into his or her commisary account.

This is the exact account I have been talking about letting them tap into so that they could fund their educational wants....not needs.

Why is it so hard for people to relize that these people that Felons do not have a greater need than anyone else in society...

sunray's wench said...

Yes, friends and family contribute a lot of money into the corrections system via the money they put into the inmates' trust funds. That money then gets spent on commissary (inflated prices and sub-standard goods) where TDCJ takes a cut. Friends and family in texas who work also contribute via taxes to the corrections system. or are you one of those people who believe that criminals only come from families on welfare where no-one works at all?

Anonymous said...

Sorry it took me so long to respond Sunray....I was eating lunch.

Thank you for making my point!!!

Yes TDCJ does take a percentage to deflect the cost of obtaining these commisary items....That is called GOOD BUSINESS!!!!

One cannot stay afloat financially by giving whatever product or merchandise you are in the business of selling if there is no profit.
As I have mentioned earlier, prisoners are consumers....
If they want to further their education, then the law of supply and demand comes into play..
If they cannot afford it then they are not a consumer....I do not think that they would qualify for a student loan, so therefore thay will have to either get friends and family to contribute, or learn to do without, which is something that people in the world learn to do on a daily basis.
Yes...their families pay taxes I suppose....I know I do, and I do not want the money that I am taxed for to go to this college educational program for convicted felons.....


As far as the substandard goods, I do not know what it is referring to, but yet again....they are not forced to purchase theses items if they do not want them....I fing it hard to believe that the prison system however harsh, would have a compulsary purchase program placed on the prisoners. But whoever said that time in prison was supposed to be easy, pleasant, educationally fullfilling, or anything else?

Angee said...

Our taxes pay for the system and some prefer the higher costs of prisons rather than providing skills that make former inmates self-supporting on the outside. This is another example of Texans love of putting punishment over education.
Windham Schools are not available in all units and then there is a selection and review process for qualification. At least 30% of them are repaying the debt and paying taxes.

Anonymous said...

Wow what a sucess story!!!

A whole 30% huh?

And people wonder why the state is having a deficit!!!

What about the 70% that aren't paying back?

Jst another fine example of the business world!!!

If you are having a LOSS, then you cannot AFFORD to stay in business.

Thank you again for driving the point home....

Anonymous said...

And speaking about the higher cost of prisons...

Isn't this program offered to prisoners?

I mean people who are already there anyway?

Since it is costing us soo much to keep them there, do we really need to spend money on something that is noy neccessary?

Or should we just turn them all loose and build more schools?

Anonymous said...

Maybe the selection and review process should include the clause of:

No money= No Schooling

Audrey said...

Surely there is a VALUE to slave labor...I thought slavery was abolished in the United States.

sunray's wench said...

Anon (get an alias for goodness sake!) said:

"As far as the substandard goods, I do not know what it is referring to, but yet again....they are not forced to purchase theses items if they do not want them....I fing it hard to believe that the prison system however harsh, would have a compulsary purchase program placed on the prisoners. But whoever said that time in prison was supposed to be easy, pleasant, educationally fullfilling, or anything else?"

Sub-standard goods as in pens that are less than half-full of ink when bought. Inflated prices meaning that my husband has to spend more on postage for his letters to me than he would at the Post Office, because his unit refuses to stock international stamps.

You are right, no one forces inmates to spend money on commisarry (or phone calls, let's not forget those here), but how else do you suggest they maintain relationships with family members if they don't purchase the stationary to do so? If these inmates choose to take a correspondence course (paid for by families), how are they supposed to complete the assignments without the stationary? If the inmates just want to improve their own vocabulary by reading, who do you think supplies the majority of books circulating inside TDCJ prisons?

I appreciate that you would rather pick and choose exactly where you taxes are spent, but the system does not work like that. If you want people locked up, then there are associated expences that you also have to fund, and the more people you lock up, the more expensive it gets. That's basic economics. And thinking it is a deterrent is way off the mark. If it were, Texas would have less people entering TDCJ, not more.

If you seriously think that time in TDCJ is "pleasant" then you obviously have had little experience from either side of the wire with it. Placing individuals in prison is an opportunity for society to have a second chance at producing productive citizens that will almost certainly one day be released and may end up living next door to you. Your approach, to warehouse inmates and give them nothing to do, reduce contact with friends and family, and make no attempt to re-educate them to be better citizens, simply puts you and your community (or worse still, removing them from your community and dumping them on someone else's) in further danger and creates more expense later on.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

1:26, etc., writes: "Lets get past the fact of how many beds there are in the prison system....The state is going to make sure that they are all filled no matter if there is 1500, or 150,000. That is just a fact of life."

This is the main flaw in your thinking from which most of the others flow. Incarceration is expensive so budgeters cannot "get past" how many people are locked up. You can do so rhetorically if you like, but not when performing math on the budget because the number of prisoners is the main cost driver for prisons. Your suggestion will increase recidivism and therefore cause costs to go up. Again, that's not speculation: It's what happened when similar cuts were made in 2003. Those of us paying attention over time have already seen this movie!

Also, here's why a 30% repayment rate is impressive: The program is only ten years old, and inmates can't participate until they have 7 years or less to go. That means many participants are still incarcerated and have had no chance yet to pay, and others have paid some but just not yet "in full," just like many people have outstanding student loans. And of course since repayment is through parole fees, there's arguably a stronger mechanism for securing repayment than there is for student loans. How many people have paid off their student loans in full a year or two after leaving school? Did you? If not, why do you expect it of them? If students in or out of prison could afford to pay up front, they wouldn't need to borrow or in inmates' case pay in installments after the fact.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

BTW, sunray's right. If you're going to post here this much please at least use an alias. Too many anons are confusing, especially if you're going to post that often on one string.

Anonymous said...

The blog sight police.....pull over.
Sun Ray....are you kidding me?

Half empty ink pens....postage stamps....is that all there is to complain about?

If that is correct then you have no troubles...

As far as stationary.... TDC had an indigent program for those poor impoverished souls who have not....

They will make sure that there is plenty of paper to write to others about...

I thought the matter had to do with the cost and possible cuts to the education?

Why did you lead us on a rabbit hunt?

As for you Scott (Grits), yet again I stated that if they WANT not need an education defray the cost of it to them, or their families, wherever they can get the money....

It really doesn't matter to me if a iliterate person or a well educated person breaks into my house....

It won't make me feel better to know that the person can read, ad, subtract, etc. after they steal my stuff.

Angee said...

You have said the same thing about 2 dozen times. Why don't you use copy and paste?

Anonymous said...

I am just doing the same as others are.....thats why.

I know it is hard to think about loved ones that are locked up in prison, but that is something that that person EARNED....The sentence was imposed...not Given to them.

Its called consequences for bad behavior....

Kind of a hard concept to fathom?

Unknown said...

i think prisoner ed is important. if the government won't give attention to these people then who would?


vocational education