The partnership between Three Rivers College and Central Methodist University is yielding a new prison education program. Leaders from both schools outlined the benefits and obstacles to this at the Wednesday Board of Trustees meeting.
The colleges have long collaborated on degree completion programs in nursing, psychology, mathematics, special education, accounting, biology and child development, said CMU Provost Dr. Rita Gulstad.
“Given that partnership, and given the fact that our missions are so aligned as far as meeting the needs of the community and empowering our students to succeed academically, we have now started to look at a prison education program together at Southeast Correctional Center,” Gulstad announced.
TRC will facilitate a two-year degree in business, after which students can progress to three- and four-year business degrees through CMU. Classes will be taught in person and online. Additionally, SCC and TRC are planning an on-site lab so students can earn hands-on experience for an associate’s of applied science in manufacturing technology.
TRC President Dr. Wes Payne stated the program’s goal is to improve students’ prospects after release.
“The intention is to build their marketable skills so that when they do reach their release day, they are viable to get a job. We have already talked with our industry partners. They are very open to employing these individuals... a lot of partnerships that are coming together to provide this.”
Payne told the board that prison education programs dropped off between two and three decades ago.
“Prior to that prison education programs were very, very common, and actually had quite a success as far as reducing recidivism within the population, changing behaviors within the incarcerated population,” he said.
Students were usually “extremely motivated and highly articulate,” he added.
“For example, it was not unusual that you would show up to teach the course on the first day to find that your entire class had read the entire book, the supplemental material that you provided for them, and was more than ready to ask you some very in-depth questions and actually begin applying the material,” said Payne.
The Department of Education guarantees incarcerated students have the same eligibility for financial aid as any others, he continued, as long as they “make a bona fide effort to have completed 60% of a course.”
CMU has operated a prison education program at SCC since autumn 2022. Gulstad and Payne explained the typical obstacles to learning in prison.
The first is limited technology. While SCC prohibits electronic devices from outside, it does provide tablets with alternative versions of Word and other software, Payne and Gulstad said. Instructors must be flexible enough to work with students when the technology fails, though.
Schedules are strict and can interrupt a class if not accounted for, Payne added.
“They move on a very particular schedule and activities that prisoners can be involved in and are closely tied to their movements,” he said. “So you have to understand that movement schedule to be able to schedule classes effectively.”
Perhaps the most significant obstacle on the front of any new program is red tape. So far, TRC has received approval from the Missouri Department of Higher Education and the Department of Corrections, and the next steps are accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission and approval from the Department of Education.
“This is a very thorough, lengthy process,” Payne remarked, and TRC had no time frame for approval. “...The United States Department of Education has never been really forthcoming with information about how long it takes them to do anything. I will tell you that in our experience as an institution, it takes much longer than anyone thinks it should. That is simply the way the United States Department of Education works.”
Once classes begin, any changes made to the order of things must be submitted for intermediary review by the Higher Learning Commission, which also makes an on-site visit within 12-18 months.
Payne noted that TRC has “an advantage over the majority of institutions that are making applications” thanks to CMU’s insight into prison education and TRC’s own experience navigating bureaucracy.
Planning is now moving forward with SCC.
“We have local staff at Southeast Correctional Center, and we have begun the process of learning their environment and figuring out all of the peculiarities that we’re going back to deal with,” Payne said.
He believes this new venture aligns with TRC’s commitment to community improvement through helping people.
“We have all of the equipment that we need to do it and we have a highly competent faculty member in the area who thinks this is a very good idea,” he said. “In the end, it’s good for Three Rivers College, it’s good for Central Methodist University, it is good for the Department of Corrections and most importantly, it has the potential to be life-changing for the participants.”