College for Criminals

[dewisant]

“For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them.” ― Thomas More, Utopia

Simplistic, but true. "Statistical Man" is more simplistic still.

[SweetSecret]

“For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them.” ― Thomas More, Utopia

Exactly! It's not just ill-educated either though. We have mass amounts of people who grow up fighting to survive... doing everything possible. These are men and women, often who struggled as children because their parents struggled. I do a lot of volunteer work for an organization that helps women exiting the prison system, as well as women who have encountered cycles of homelessness. The two things they struggle with are often lack of income and mental health issues leading to drug/alcohol abuse. I still go up to the capitol though, and I still advocate for education for inmates... because sometimes it has less to do with having the piece of paper and more to do with the confidence of feeling equal to others which helps mentally. Plus, where I am at the access for women inmates to education takes months longer than for the men, and most of them never get to use it the first time they are in because they are released before they can start course-work.

Also, for those of you who have not seen it, I would strongly recommend watching the documentary "The House I Live In", available on NetFlix.
The House I Live In (2012 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think if the U.S. really looked at how to push for employers offering family wages (not just "living wages" or minimum wage), and easier access to mental health care, we could make major improvements in this country.

[sanantone]

Exactly! It's not just ill-educated either though. We have mass amounts of people who grow up fighting to survive... doing everything possible. These are men and women, often who struggled as children because their parents struggled. I do a lot of volunteer work for an organization that helps women exiting the prison system, as well as women who have encountered cycles of homelessness. The two things they struggle with are often lack of income and mental health issues leading to drug/alcohol abuse. I still go up to the capitol though, and I still advocate for education for inmates... because sometimes it has less to do with having the piece of paper and more to do with the confidence of feeling equal to others which helps mentally. Plus, where I am at the access for women inmates to education takes months longer than for the men, and most of them never get to use it the first time they are in because they are released before they can start course-work.

Also, for those of you who have not seen it, I would strongly recommend watching the documentary "The House I Live In", available on NetFlix.
The House I Live In (2012 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think if the U.S. really looked at how to push for employers offering family wages (not just "living wages" or minimum wage), and easier access to mental health care, we could make major improvements in this country.

ACA was supposed to take care of the mental health care part by making Medicaid available for impoverished adults and making it so that all of the different kinds of mental health care providers could bill insurance companies. While the latter has taken effect, the former has been rejected by many states. My state has the highest rate of uninsured adults and children, but opted out of the Medicaid expansion. I have yet to see my state government come up with a plan to help Texans become insured. We're not getting the federal dollars returned to us that other states are getting, and providing health care for uninsured people is a huge burden on the counties.

[defscarlett]

Sorry, I've been rocking out straighterline courses left and right and have neglected this forum. I'm fine with correctional institutions provinding skilled labor training, i.e. cosmetology, welding etc. I do however have a problem with offering college courses to inmates. The general public can barely afford college to get a degree, so why should we offer these types of rewards to offenders. Especially to an individual who would not even be eligible for FAFSA on the outside. Government spending should be spent on social programs to prevent these individuals from making the wrong choices and getting incarcerated in the first place. I also believe that the decriminalization of victimless crimes (prostitution, drugs etc) and working on racial bias in the criminal justice system would go a long way to help with this ridiculous incarceration problem we have in the US.