Prisoners earning an education
JESSICA ALCOCER
THE SIGNAL
The Ramsey Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison farm located in Rosharon, Texas, on 14,667 acres of land. Many have never heard of it, including me, but there’s a reason why UHCL students should be familiar with this prison.
UHCL is the only institution in the TDCJ Education Program that offers graduate degree programs to prisoners. UHCL is also one of three institutions in Texas that offers undergraduate degree programs to prisoners, along with Sam Houston State University and Tarlton State University. The program has been in existence since UHCL opened in 1974.
At the Student Conference for Research and Creative Arts (SCRCA), held last week on campus, I attended “Reorienting the Orient: Part III Ramsey Campus.” There, in a video recording, two prisoners in the process of earning their degrees, presented papers they had written for their class about non-western humanities. The video showed the other students from their class engaging in an open discussion in the classroom as well. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but what I saw was something extremely similar to what UHCL students do on campus everyday.
Former Dean of the School of Human Sciences and Humanities Calvin Cannon started negotiations for the program in the spring of 1974. The first person to teach at the Ramsey Prison was Curtis Smith, former associate dean of Human Sciences and Humanities and professor of literature. Others who have taught at Ramsey include John Gorman, professor of literature, Gretchen Mieskowski, former professor of literature, who was the first woman to teach at Ramsey, and Bruce Palmer, former dean of school of human sciences and humanities and professor of history.
Shreerekha Subramanian, associate professor of humanities, currently teaches at Ramsey. She explained the context of their classes, the amount and intensity of the material they are willing to take on and the astonishing statistics that those who obtain degrees have upon their release.
For inmates released from prison with a degree, less than 15 percent will return to a life of crime. Furthermore, prisoners pay their own way through college; some qualify for financial aid and are expected to pay back their loans upon release.
These students are putting in the work to better themselves. It has also been shown that inmates who graduate with a college degree become involved in careers that work with reducing criminal conduct. Recent recidivism rate statistics show fewer than 15 percent for those who earned an associate degree, fewer than 10 percent for those earning a bachelors and almost zero percent for those earning a master’s degree. The Ramsey Unit presentation was definitely an eye opening experience. Learning what this education program can do for these inmates gave me a new look at a “second chance.”
I earned 2 degrees while incarcerated, and I was enrolled in college several years prior to my incarceration. College while incarcerated is such a positive way to occupy your time, it also provides you with a strong sense of self worth at a time where there are very few opportunities for such. It also allows one to view their future in a way that they have never known. I found the experience of college while incarcerated being much more difficult than when I was in the community. For one your resources are very limited, and the ability to share and study with others is almost nonexistent. I remember sitting around a conference table with my study group just having fun and discussing each of our opinions on a subject. Looking back I think that the social interactions I was involved in were in some ways equally important to the information itself. In prison you just don’t have that for obvious reasons. But because of recidivism rates alone a college education while incarcerated has proven over time to be a very valuable asset for the individual as well as the community where he/she will be returning to.
I think that this is a great program to give inmates the opportunity to turn their lives around. I have a brother here that just completed his bachelors degree and will be working on his masters degree next semester. I am very proud of him for taking the steps to better himself and turning his life around.
I think this is a great program. I have a brother working on completing his masters and couldn’t be prouder of him, for taking the steps to turn his life around.
This is such a wonderful program! This program makes me glad that I’m a hawk!
You know what would make this program even more incredible? If we also included female inmates in this program. This program is currently limited to male inmates. All inmates deserve a chance at education.
I actually work in the prison system (once assigned to the Ramsey Cluster of prisons) AND attend UHCL’s Graduate School. Great information regarding the stats of offenders with a degree that offend again, it was interesting to actually see the data on that.