UW-Baraboo, prison end relationship

By Matthew Ryno / News Republic

Working toward a four-year university degree while behind bars will no longer be an option at a nearby federal prison, due to a push to make it easier for more ex-convicts to secure employment upon their release.

Inmates will finish their lessons with long-time University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County instructors, and by June, a new educational provider will teach an anticipated 50 to 100 inmates how to push mops and buckets.

After about 35 years of working together, officials at the Federal Corrections Institute at Oxford specifically requested instruction in job fields not offered at UW-Baraboo, like custodial services and computer work. UW-Baraboo has not submitted a bid for these services, which are classified as part of a $6.5 million contract on the bid request.

About 17 full-time equivalent students from FCI-Oxford are enrolled in the current program. Losing these students pushes the number of full-time students at UW-Baraboo below an enrollment target — which could impact state aid next year.

Thomas Pleger, dean, said he predicts college enrollment will continue to increase and he was more concerned that such a beneficial relationship has ended.

"We have enjoyed the relationship over 30 plus years, and our faculty and staff have found it very rewarding," Pleger said. "In a number of meetings we have pointed out success of our program to FCI-Oxford."

Christine Montonna, executive assistant at the prison, said in a faxed statement, "eligible inmates would benefit more effectively from occupational oriented programs, by obtaining marketable skills designed to enhance post-release employment opportunities."

Specifically, Montonna said the shift in programming gives FCI-Oxford a new contract that "accommodates the most recent policy guidelines for education and accommodates the needs of the inmate population at FCI-Oxford."

Though the opportunity to obtain a two-year associate degree applicable to continuing a four-year degree at a school like UW-Steven's Point might no longer be offered in the future, FCI-Oxford was considered "one of the most heavily programmed institutions in the Federal Bureau of Prisons," Jerry Bednarowski, of the Correctional Education Association of Wisconsin, wrote in an annual newsletter last year.

In the newsletter he listed FCI-Oxford's programs which included GED programs, apprenticeship programs, continuing education programs, food service training, arts and crafts programs and some technical education through the Madison Area Technical College. All of these programs are part of FCI-Oxford's Occupational and Vocational Education Program.

Bednarowski, a retired educational director at the Waupun Correctional Institution, said though he has no experience with a Federal Correctional Institution, he said supporting work toward a four-year degree requires a lot of resources to get prisoners eligible. According to the National Institute of Literacy, 70 percent of all prisoners function at the lowest literacy levels.

"The levels of the inmates coming into the (state correctional) institution are usually quite low. The first goal (of state correctional institutions) is to get them a GED, then get them a trade to get them employable upon release," he said.

A partnership between a Federal Corrections Institute and a four-year degree program does exist elsewhere though, like at Boston University and Arizona State University.

Some programs in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections are also pioneering easier ways to cross the divide to a four-year degree while also expanding training for the workplace.

The Milwaukee Area Technical College is partnering with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections through a satellite-based distance learning group called the Corrections Learning Network to offer courses which lead to an Associate of Arts degree.

A recently awarded $2 million four-year study is now looking at how their economical way of offering courses which ultimately leads to an Associate of Arts degree (an intermediate goal to completing a four-year degree), can be successful.

Bednarowski said there is value in a liberal arts education.

"A liberal arts education doesn't exist much in the state system, but it has great value and it gets into supporting the moral development and value system of the inmates. I think its major effect is in those areas, in addition to preparing for employment upon release," he said.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 1997, (the most recent date the study was completed) about 23.9 percent of federal inmates have a post-secondary education, compared to 48.4 percent of the general population.

About 80 percent of inmates who did not complete high school or an equivalency degree were recidivists. This compares with 66 percent with some college education who were recidivists.

Nearly 60 percent of federal inmates reported taking advantage of educational opportunities while they were incarcerated.

No educational service bids have been selected so far by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Though multiple requests have been made, no copies of received bids have been provided by the prison system and no data is available regarding the success rate of those completing any educational services at FCI-Oxford.