October 15, 1998
DC-RAIL already has 500 signatures the new petition to build public opinion for free, voluntary, and complete access to all levels of education for prisoners in the Washington, D.C. area, including access to outside college and university programs and uncensored access to all reading materials inside prisons. We also call on regional schools, colleges, and universities -- including teachers themselves -- to cooperate in providing educational support for prisoners. Most of the signatures so far are from local college students who support the extension of education to prisoners.
With the number of prisoners in this country at more than 1.7 million and growing, governments are cutting back on education programs for prisoners, including prisoners in the Washington, D.C. area. The injustice system already unfairly imprisons those with less education, especially members of the Black, Latino, and First Nations. Now they are making it even harder on prisoners, and eliminating one of the last "rehabilitation" aspects of the system.
In a just society, all prisoners would be engaged in some sort of education and reform program -- because the society would want to solve the problems that led people to commit crimes against other people. On the other hand, in a just society the prisoners would not be filled with people from oppressed nations and the relatively poor and uneducated groups in society, imprisoned for property and drug crimes -- while the worst criminals, like the people who bomb medicine factories in Africa, wield state power and ride around in limos all the time. We can tell a lot about a society from looking at its prisons.
In 1995, just 23% of state and federal prisoners were enrolled in some type of education program, even though a majority of prisons say they offer some type of program.(1) Only about half of all prisoners in 1991 had ever gotten any academic education during their time in prison.(3)
But education programs are being cut across the country. From 1990 to 1995, while the number of all state and federal prison employees increased 31%, along with the number of prisoners, the number of education employees increased less than 1%. As a result, educational employees fell from just 4.2% of prison employees in 1990 to an even lower 3.2% in 1995. In 1995, there were 4 prisoners per guard in state prisons, but 93 prisoners for every educational employee. Federal prisons were a little better, with 8 prisoners per guard and 70 prisoners per educator. Now, we're not champions of any one group of prison employees, but in general we think a prison system is better with more educators and fewer guards, so this is just evidence that things are getting worse, not better.(1)
About 25% of the adult population in the country has completed college (2), compared to only 2% of state prisoners; 82% of all adults have finished high school (3), compared to less than 30% of adults entering state prisons.(4) In the year before their arrest, one-third of state prisoners were not employed, and more than half had incomes less than $10,000 per year.(3)
It's not news that the relatively poor are over-represented in the injustice system. The point here is that the state takes people who have lower education and lower income, and then imprisons them in a way that reduces rather than increases their chances of success when they get out. This isn't just devastating for the prisoners. There are also about 900,000 children whose parents are in state and federal prisons, children more likely to end up in poverty and prison themselves as a result of the oppression of their parents. Further, in 1991, 750,000 prisoners had immediate family members in prison also.(3)
The injustice system thus simply increases inequality and oppression, for prisoners, their families, and their whole communities and nations.
DC-RAIL's new education campaign supports MIM and RAIL's books-for-prisoners program, which is constantly being confronted with reactionary censorship policies that deny prisoners access to political reading material. We are doing all we can to build the books program, including sending any prisoner MIM Notes subscriptions for free, but we can't offer complete education to so many prisoners. If prisoners can have access to education programs on the outside, it will give them the chance to develop their political education, too. We don't expect prisons to provide revolutionary educational opportunities, but by building public opinion for expanded education access, we hope to increase the chances that prisoners can get hold of more of the resources they need to build the revolutionary movement.
Notes:
1. Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 1995. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), U.S. Department of Justice, NCJ#-164266. This and other reports can be had for free from the BJS Clearinghouse, 800-732-3277, or http://www.ncjrs.org.
2. U.S. Census Bureau, 29 June 1998. http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-105.html.
3. Comparing State and Federal Inmates, 1991. Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. NCJ#-145864.
4. Center on Crime, Communities and Culture Research Brief, Sept. 1997. http://www.soros.org/crime/research_brief__2 .html