Prisoner Education
In order to properly critique our prison system it is important to look at existing educational and vocational programs in our area. The Massachusetts Department of Correction’s has a mission statement which reads, “The Massachusetts Department of Correction’s mission is to promote public safety by managing offenders while providing care and appropriate programming in preparation for successful reentry into the community.” They do this by following their four step program “Manage – Care – Program – Prepare.” We found that some of the programs offered may fit this mission, but others need tweaking. The first prison we decided to research was MCI Norfolk. MCI Norfolk utilizes a myriad of different programs, from adult basic education to Welding. However, the sheer number of programs offered does not always indicate a successful educational system. In our research we found that Norfolk, although possessing a wide verity of programs, is one of the worst educational programs in the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. However, MCI-Norfolk does offer a few programs that we thought were very unique and would be helpful in designing a model program. For example, MCI Norfolk offers a program called the “Responsible Fatherhood Program” which seeks to raise the awareness of male inmates’ parental responsibility. The program tries to emphasize the value and importance that a father’s presence can have on a child. The program lasts eight weeks and requires a minimum of eight hours of structured curriculum driven activities.
The RFP program works in three stages, with the ultimate goal of reunited father’s with their children, and strengthening their bond as father and child. The “Fatherhood Graduate Maintenance Program” is for graduates of the RFP program, which allows inmates to practice and discuss the skills they were taught in the previous stage. Once they have passed the FGMP stage, the inmate moves onto the Father/Child Visitation Component, which is a structured and staff facilitated visit for inmates who have completed the first two steps of the program. What we liked about this program is not only that it seeks an important goal (preparing inmates to become better fathers), but it is very extensive and requires a lot of dedication from the inmate. Another program that we liked was the “Employment Readiness Program” which is a 10-day workshop that is designed to assist inmates in the development of the necessary skills that are needed for successful transition back into the...
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