$600,000 Grant Increases College Opportunities for Incarcerated Offenders
By Rowlanda Cawthon, East Team Leader, Communications
Offenders attend University Behind Bars at
Monroe Correctional Complex.
During an era of record budget shortfalls, the state has limited resources to provide offenders with post-secondary education opportunities during incarceration. But two nonprofit organizations see the benefit and are willing to do what is needed.
The RiverStyx Foundation gave University Behind Bars (UBB) a $600,000 grant to expand its five-year-old college program at the Washington State Reformatory Unit (WSRU) at Monroe Correctional Complex and to start up similar programs in other Washington prisons. The foundation became interested in UBB when T. Cody Swift, Fund Director, visited the prison and learned about the program from offenders.
“I was stunned at what UBB had achieved with no funding whatsoever,” said Swift. “They were running a small college with nothing but volunteers. That was nothing short of phenomenal.”
Carol Estes and Gary Idleburg formed UBB in 2005 after teaching classes at WSRU for about five years through an offender group called the Black Prisoners Caucus. The UBB program grew quickly as local educators from the University of Washington, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle University, Evergreen College, Shoreline Community College, and Seattle Public Schools began volunteering their time.
“UBB was formed as an effort to change the lives of offenders and enhance community safety,” said Estes. “College for prisoners is the single most effective way to reduce recidivism. We all win when the men and women released from prison succeed instead of committing new crimes and returning to prison.”
Beginning in September, the expanded UBB program will be operating full time for three days a week inside WSRU. The grant allows UBB to add an additional classroom to the existing campus. The entire UBB Campus will consist of two dedicated classrooms, a student advising office and a computer lab which will operate 18 classes or study sessions three days a week.
UBB students take courses through the Ohio University Program for the Incarcerated. Instead of taking regular correspondence courses, they take courses on a “course credit by examination” basis. UBB teachers use the standard curriculum in the classroom. Then, at the end of the semester, students take a single Ohio University-designed test over the material, and the grade they receive on the test is the grade they receive in the course.
UBB’s 150 students will be able to choose from a list of classes that include college Algebra, Pre Calculus, Spanish, Introduction to Philosophy, African American History, Human Biology, Astronomy and the Philosophy of Art.
“This grant will provide many more offenders with an opportunity to obtain a post-secondary education,” said Superintendent Scott Frakes. “We are grateful for UBB and extremely excited about the program’s expansion at WSRU and to other facilities.”
The ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. Sept. 23, at the Monroe Correctional Complex in the Washington State Reformatory. The event will be attended by Eldon Vail, Secretary of the Department of Corrections, Washington State Legislators and local dignitaries.