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Up the river with a paddle:
College Inside takes classroom to inmates

Motivational quotes in an office are par for the course these days, but there's something different about the ones in Nancy Green's office.

Several of them are from inmates of the Oregon corrections system.

Green is the director of Chemeketa Community College's corrections education program and the quotes are from students who have taken courses the program administers.

"We have one student who was 16 when he committed a murder and he's now 28. He was nervous about being in the classroom with outsiders and people who would judge him, but he's blossomed," said Green.

This fall, about 60 inmates in the Oregon State Penitentiary and the Oregon State Correctional Institute are hitting the books in a new program called College Inside. The program is being funded for a year by a donor who was moved to action after watching a television program about the benefits of education in the prison system.

Studies by the Oregon Department of Corrections have found that education programs reduce recidivism and represent a return of about $2.15 for every dollar invested.

Chemeketa has partnered with the Department of Corrections in the past for programs like Inside Out, which integrates both inmates and regular college students in classrooms inside prisons. The program's aim is to create a unique learning environment for both traditional and inmate students. Conversely, College Inside offers inmates courses that can lead to them receiving an associate's degree.

"College Inside students are awarded scholarships that cover all but $25 of their tuition. In addition, students pay for their textbooks," said Green. "We also have other students that are paying their own way through the program."

It's a substantial commitment considering most inmates make only between $20 and $80 a month, she said.

All inmates awarded scholarships needed to meet several stringent guidelines:

• They must have a clean bill of conduct for the 18 months leading up to the term.
• They must have a diploma or GED.
• They cannot have other college degrees
• They must be within five years of release.

However, students in the classes represent both violent and non-violent offenders.

"They also had to go through the whole college enrollment process from application and placement testing to registration," said Green. Students attend class two nights each week and are taught by Chemeketa professors.

When possible, course work is tailored to address the conditions the students face in their everyday lives. For example, the winter term sociology course will likely use "Going Up the River: Travels in a Prison Nation" as one of the texts.

Victories in programs like College Inside are tallied in small, but often life changing, ways.

"Usually we're dealing with students who have never had a positive educational experience," said Green. "Simple things like performing well on a placement test can alter their entire outlook on life and influence their hopes for the future."

Updated October 3, 2007 by Marketing and Student Recruitment.