Earning sheepskins while doing time

Inmates at 10 state prisons will be able to study for associate and bachelor”™s degrees behind prison walls in a new accredited college program announced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

One correctional facility in each of the state”™s 10 regions, including the seven-county Mid-Hudson region, will be chosen for the college-level program, Cuomo said in the announcement.

The state will issue a request for proposals March 3 from educational associations that provide college professors and classes in an accredited program for inmates. The degree programs would generally take 2.5 to 3 years to complete, state officials said.

New York currently spends $60,000 per year to incarcerate one person in a prison system where the recidivism rate among inmates is 40 percent, state officials said. It costs approximately $5,000 per year to provide one year of college education for one inmate. Current studies have shown that by earning college degrees, inmates are far less likely to return to prison, according to state officials.

Since federal PELL grants and the state”™s Tuition Assistance Program grants for prisoners were discontinued in 1994 and 1995, the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision has supported using private funds for post-secondary education for inmates. To further enhance the college program, the department developed a model in 2007 that established working partnerships between a correctional facility, a collegiate institution in the same geographic region and an outside private funding source.

“Giving men and women in prison the opportunity to earn a college degree costs our state less and benefits our society more,” Cuomo said. “Someone who leaves prison with a college degree has a real shot at a second lease on life because their education gives them the opportunity to get a job and avoid falling back into a cycle of crime.”