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Spotlight on... Northwest Regional Corrections and Justice Center
Jail's education program a bright spot
for inmates, if they want it
By Natalie J. Ostgaard, City Editor
Published: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Crookston Daily Times
Reprinted with permission
Being incarcerated is far from a pleasant experience, as anyone who's ever been in jail can attest to. The education program at the Northwest Regional Corrections Center, however, aims to provide a bright spot in its inmates' days.
"Jail is generally a negative experience by design, but hopefully they can walk away with something positive," Bob Rudh, program manager, told 13 "inmates" participating in a mini lock-in at the new jail (prior to it opening) recently. "That's why we're here."
Education at the jail is totally voluntary, he pointed out, although most inmates would like to participate. "Coming from lock down, I'm sure this is a more inviting atmosphere," he said.
Last year, 260 inmates participated in the program.
Programming options
When inmates first come into the program, they fill out required paperwork, including demographics information that paraprofessional Kim Moronez enters into software that compiles statistics for funding from the state. Rudh said funding comes through Minnesota Adult Basic Education and is based mainly on contact hours with clients per year. Last year staff, which also includes a half-time teacher, logged approximately 18,000 contact hours, a figure that's risen considerably over the years.
 The menu of programming includes a wide array of options: preparation for GED or driver's license tests; preparation for college; improve reading, writing, math, English, employability, and/or computer skills; career assessments; build a resume; and possibly others as needed. Inmates check off those of interest to them before proceeding to the skills assessment process. Reading and math evaluations have four levels of difficulty, Rudh explained, which allows them to place students into the appropriate learning group.
"We now have an ideal testing center," he said of the configuration at the new jail. "We have smaller rooms for testing that are free of the distractions the all-purpose room at the old facility poses. A lot of our students have learning disabilities and outside noise can confuse them. This way, we can put them one by one into the room for testing."
Having all the educational programming in one area, instead of going back and forth between two buildings (the Annex and the Center) is also a plus, as is having a bathroom located within the educational area, Rudh said. At the current jail, the bathrooms are located outside the secure perimeters of the education room.
Several computers are located throughout the main educational area. The computers are not hooked up to the Internet, he said, but students use programs such as Word to write letters and Publisher to make greeting cards. If they're really good and work hard, they can play a few hands of solitaire.
"We use that as a reward," he said.
Also in the room are numerous shelves lined with books, including educational materials, fiction and non-fiction and reference books, at various reading levels. Rudh said the program is working with the Crookston Public Library to initiate a book loan program to increase the variety of books available to inmates. Rolling carts also carry reading materials that are rotated periodically to the inmate living areas.
"It never ceases to amaze me how people from jail, even if they haven't looked at a book in five years, when they're here they become avid readers," said Rudh. "We certainly want to encourage that."
He displayed a few examples of exceptional artwork done by inmates, including drawings with intricate details and realistic-looking roses fashioned out of toilet paper and toothpaste.
"These are talented, ingenious people who happen to be, for the most part, learning disabled," Rudh said. "I think those who are able to do this, before they leave, they have to say 'I don't read well, I don't do math well, but I can do something well.'"
Andrew Larson, jail administrator, pointed out that symbols like numbers and stars appear often in these drawings, which tend to be associated with gang insignia. Other recurring themes in the artwork include prison towers, clocks, and sometimes religion.
Volunteer program
The education program does have a volunteer base, said Rudh, which it hopes to expand on now that more space is available.
"We're more the academic portion, where the volunteer program deals more with cognitive restructuring and values. We want our effort to be holistic," he said. "They are more the social end, which is just as important. You could be as bright as you want, with a college degree, but if you don't show up to work on time or sober, none of that matters."
A volunteer program that was funded through a Tri-Valley Opportunity Council grant ran out of funding and has left a void at the jail. Parenting classes were well attended and beneficial to both men and women, Tri-County Community Corrections Executive Director Susan Mills said.
"We're always looking for more volunteer opportunities and have had great success with the church community of all denominations coming in," she said. "With funding for a lot of these programs going away, we welcome and appreciate efforts from the volunteer community."
Groundbreaking program
Mills said the jail's educational program, which is administered through TCCC, has been around since 1976, when the current facility opened. It was the state's first full educational program run in a jail.
"It was very unusual," she said. "There were programs in prisons, but not jail. Even though there are now a few counties running education programs in the jails, today it's still unusual. Generally speaking, we're out there alone in this."
To transition people back into the community, it's very important they have two things, she said: a roof over their heads and a high school diploma or equivalent (GED). Approximately 33 inmates a year get their GEDs while at the jail, she added.
About half of those booked into the facility are high school dropouts, Rudh said, so helping them get their GED is an important step in them moving forward with their lives.
"Sometimes, this person might be the only one in four generations of family to get one," he said. "To be able to present someone with a GED is very rewarding."
Most fulfilling to him, though, is when a former student runs into him on the street, shakes his hand and says, "Thank you."
"That means more than anything," he said.
Rudh noted that other statistics are "quite astounding. We've estimated that about 90 percent of our students are learning disabled or can't read. Now, we're not suggesting that if everyone can read, we'd obliterate crime. But both national and state reports show education in jail reduces recidivism."
Sometimes, people need help with simple things such as being able to read signs and other everyday functions before moving on to more complicated tasks.
"What's important in doing this is, if we're going to change lives, we've got to start with very basic needs," said Mills.
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