Teaching at Soledad State Prison

In 1984 I taught a political science course at Soledad State Prison south of Salinas.  The course was entitled Parties and Elections, and the inmates who took it received three units of college credit.  Not many prisoners participated; I was told the average reading level was between third and fourth grade.  Out of several thousand inmates, fewer than 100 were in the program, run by San Jose State.

None of the instructors were allowed to wear any sort of blue clothing.  In case of a prison riot, the authorities concentrated on people wearing blue.  We were also told not to ask any of our students what they had done, but Soledad was a real prison, and you had to commit a real felony to get in there. It was best not to know.  We were also warned that in case of a prison riot, there would be no negotiations for hostages, which, being a potential hostage, was sobering.

My students were about 1/3 black, 1/3 white, and 1/3 Latino.  As in any class, some of them were excellent; some were scraping by.  The students did not have it easy.  The library was rudimentary, study time was limited by lights out, and twice lockdowns resulted in cancelled classes.  Nonetheless, students did manage to complete the program and received a degree from San Jose State.  The recidivism rate for graduates was amazingly low.

The program ended a few years after I taught there.  Voters complained about prisoners receiving a free education while their kids had to pay tuition.

This all came back to me when I read an op-ed piece by Bill Keller in today’s Times about Gov. Cuomo’s plan to spend a million dollars out of a corrections budget of $2.8 billion on a college program for N.Y. prisoners.  The cost of the program would be about $5000 per year per student, compared to $60,000 it costs to house a prisoner for a year.

New York Republican Assembly staffers made their opposition clear with two photos.  One portrayed jubilant white kids tossing their graduation caps in the air, over the caption: “Studied hard.  Worked summer jobs.  Saved.  Took out loans....” The second featured a line of minority prisoners in orange jumpsuits: “Stole a car.  Robbed a bank.  Shot a bystander.  Got a free college education paid for by YOU.”

Gov. Cuomo’s proposal, as you might guess, was DOA.  Sometimes I just get discouraged.

Note to readers:  Somehow last night I posted the title but not the contents of the posting.  It's there now.