Study to zero in on prison classes

Aim is to gauge how educating inmates affects recidivism

FAYETTEVILLE — As a first-time observer in a prison classroom, education researcher Kevin Roessger came away impressed.

“It didn’t seem like a bunch of people sitting in a compulsory classroom with no interest in what was happening,” said Roessger, an assistant professor of adult and lifelong learning at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. From 15 to 20 Pine Bluff prison unit inmates seemed engaged and motivated, Roessger said. The topic was geometry, and “the instructor was incredibly enthusiastic,” he added.

Roessger said Arkansas lacks a full understanding of how getting General Educational Development diplomas and taking vocational courses aids inmates after their release from prison.

In June, he will begin examining the connection between prison classes, referred to generally as correctional education, and the likelihood that the Arkansas inmates who take them will return to prison after their release.

The data-intensive project will use advanced statistical methods to filter variables, such as age or types of offenses, to help identify the impact of state-run correctional education, Roessger said. He plans to also study the effect of class sizes and which educational programs produce the best results.

Post-release employment will be another area studied, with Roessger looking at data going back at least to 2001.

An $80,000 grant from the board that oversees the Arkansas Correctional School will pay for the first year of the project that is expected to span two years, he said.

“We know nationwide through other studies that most people are finding that correctional education programs do significantly reduce recidivism and significantly increase post-release employment,” Roessger said.

He said more information about what works best in Arkansas will be useful to officials in making decisions about where to direct resources.

“These programs’ funding is always an issue,” Roessger said. Despite research showing that they save money in the long run, “often they’re seen as being a luxury thing,” he said.

In Arkansas, a surge in the prison population has made recidivism a hot topic for elected officials.

From 2005-15, the state prison population increased by about 33 percent, rising to 17,684 in 2015, according to a June report by the Denver-based JFA Institute, a corrections analysis group that has presented data to the state’s Board of Corrections.

The report stated that “Arkansas has seen significantly larger overall growth as compared to the nation as a whole.” From 2005-14, the inmate population in state prisons throughout the United States increased by 2.5 percent, to 1,350,098, according to the report.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson in February 2015 called for improved parole services to help lower the recidivism rate and “save money and increase public safety.”

For the years 2003-12, the prison recidivism rate averaged 44 percent, according to a December report from the state Department of Correction. The percentage represents inmates returning to prison within three years of their releases. During the 10-year period, a total of 61,525 inmates were released, according to the department.

Valdez Woods, 40, said he earned his GED diploma 10 years ago while in an Arkansas prison on drug convictions. He had dropped out of high school in the 11th grade, he said.

Taking classes in prison “gives you a certain level of confidence that you can do it,” Woods said. He said he was released from prison in 2015 and now works full time at night in a manufacturing job while attending school full time at Northwest Arkansas Commu- nity College in Bentonville.

Many inmates dropped out of school “way earlier than I did, and it’s all about a confidence thing,” Woods said.

A 2013 study by the Rand Corp. cited a national prison recidivism rate of 43.3 percent, an estimate published earlier by The Pew Center and based on data from 33 states. After reviewing correctional education studies, Rand Corp. researchers estimated a 30.4 recidivism rate for participants in correctional education.

Lois Davis, a Rand Corp. senior policy researcher, said there “still isn’t a flood of studies that have really been done in this area.”

For Arkansas, “no one knows right now where we stand in reference to that,” Roessger said of the national study. “How do you improve a system if you don’t know where it currently is?”

Charles Allen, chief administrative officer for the Arkansas Correctional School, said the study will involve prison inmates and residents of the state’s community corrections centers. Correctional School Superintendent Bill Glover said in an email that the school has a $6.9 million budget, and a staff of 84 licensed administrators and teachers.

An “in house” study on education and recidivism was done several years ago, but Allen said Roessger’s work will be “much more comprehensive.”

In Arkansas, inmates with no GEDs or high school diplomas are required to attend classes offered by the Arkansas Correctional School. Roessger said Arkansas is one of 22 states with compulsory participation.

For a portion of the 201516 school year, 2,294 inmates participated in GED diploma programs, with 460 earning their GED diplomas that year, according to the Arkansas Correctional School.

Allen said enrollment is higher in the prison GED diploma courses than in staterun vocational classes, which are overseen by Riverside Vocational Technical School. In 2015-16, 295 completion certificates in various programs were awarded to inmates. Courses offered included carpentry and computer applications.

“We could find that certain vocational programs really, really help, whereas others don’t have any effect at all,” Roessger said of reducing recidivism rates.

The first year of the study will involve compiling information now tracked by various state entities.

“You have a huge undertaking to put it together,” Roessger said.

Rand Corp. researchers concluded that correctional education financially “breaks even,” if there is a reduction in the three-year recidivism rate of between 1.9 and 2.6 percentage points.

Leta Anthony, leader of the volunteer Central Arkansas ReEntry Coalition, said in an email that even with an education, former inmates have a hard time getting jobs and housing. She said the state should do more to help them connect with community service providers.

Correctional education “could be one tool that is a valuable tool in the toolbox” to help reduce recidivism, Roessger said.