Pravin Visakan: UCLA should offer college degree program for prison inmates

With sleepless nights, budding caffeine addictions and obscure curricula, a college education at UCLA might seem more like a punitive measure than anything else. However, a college degree represents increased opportunity and can further one’s potential for employment and self-fulfillment – especially for those who need it most, namely, prison inmates.

California currently suffers from an unwieldy, overburdened prison system. In January, the Los Angeles Times reported a modern low in inmate population numbers – 113,463 inmates, or a mere 137.2 percent of current prison capacity.

To solve the problem, the state of California has increased efforts to get prisoners out of prisons and reintegrate them into society. In November, voters approved Proposition 57. It required modifications to the current sentencing rules for nonviolent felons, where a static amount of time must be served by inmates before they are released. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation released a new set of less punitive rules last month that, upon approval, would allow for inmates to hasten their release by engaging in rehabilitative programs. Of these programs, those that set inmates up to earn college degrees can earn them up to six months of early release with parole.

Usually, degree-earning prison education programs involve partnerships between local prisons and local colleges to provide instruction for inmates. UCLA should do the same and partner with the California State Prison, Los Angeles County to create an education program for prisoners of its own. The prison is known as a “Re-Entry Hub,” as it’s already home to several rehabilitative programs. UCLA could complement these with its own degree program.

Degree-earning programs at other universities have made a positive impact. The Prison University Project is a nonprofit that organizes classes for inmates at San Quentin State Prison in Northern California. Classes are a full-fledged extension of the accredited Patten University in Oakland. And they work: a self-evaluation of the program from 2012 reported that recidivism rates in crime and parole violations are notably lower for program graduates than the rest of the prison population. No returning graduates were reincarcerated for violent crimes.

[Submission: UC should extend educational programs to reduce recidivism rates]

With a degree, inmates have more opportunities to find jobs and provide for themselves when no longer imprisoned. UCLA should jump on board and contribute to the effort with a prisoner degree program of its own.

With the Los Angeles County prison’s status as a “Re-Entry Hub,” UCLA could model a program after a precedent set by community colleges and help create a robust rehabilitation program for the surrounding area. In 2015, the Prison University Project provided training for instructors at four community colleges, who then taught as a part of a separate program at nearby prisons. The sites were chosen with proximity and the presence of “Re-Entry Hubs” in mind. A degree program in Los Angeles would complement other programs; a pre-existing computer literacy class in office software, for example, could help prepare students for writing a paper in an academic class.

Certainly, safety of instructors may be a factor against programs that provide in-person instruction to prisoners. Felons are behind bars, after all, and it might be natural to assume a level of danger in a prison classroom. However, the same can be said of other prison-education projects. UCLA could make use of safety training and procedures developed by those other projects. Additionally, the Proposition 57 rule changes apply to felons classified as nonviolent – more dangerous criminals would be outside the purview of the potential program.

[Aaron Julian: Prison system and society’s view of inmates need reform]

And of course, UCLA is a campus of the University of California, with its own board of regents and enigmatic bureaucratic traditions. The feasibility and logistics of UCLA, as opposed to a small for-profit college in Oakland or a California community college, collaborating with a state agency such as the CDCR, securing funding and preparing curricula is no minor question.

However, the UC has already been responsible for at least one inmate education program. The aptly named UC Santa Cruz Project for Inmate Education had graduate students and professors teaching classes in math and physics as recently as 2015. Though the courses did not culminate in degrees, educators were able to give on-site lectures and homework, in a style many current students at UCLA are most likely familiar with. UCLA could form a similar program, but extend it to offer a full degree.

Today, the state of California is fundamentally changing how it treats prisoners. Determinate sentencing laws represent an old-fashioned method of handling convicted nonviolent felons, appealing more to the raw, ugly emotions of those involved rather than seriously attempting to help inmates. The Proposition 57 rule changes represent a shift by the state to a more rehabilitative, rather than punitive, philosophy. In retrospect, inflicting inmates with classes might seem like a cruel bucking of this trend.

But then again, UCLA has never been an institution to shy away from the painful job of providing students with a solid education.