"Letters to an Incarcerated Brother" is a magnificent achievement. I loved it!  Hill Harper’s genius explodes off the pages into the hearts and souls of the reader. The surgical precision in which he operates on the mind and spirit of prisoners, such as myself, is masterful. There is an extraordinary amount of knowledge and wisdom in this book, woven into the fabric of a wonderful true story of the friendship between Hill and Brian (inmate). Regardless of the circumstances as to why we may be incarcerated, justly or unjustly,  Hill Harper wrote this book to assist us in becoming better human beings, and in the process, “Anyone” who reads this book will be blessed by Harper’s powerful blueprint to personal growth.

 

A powerful theme throughout the book is the encouragement of inmates to educate themselves —“College vs. Prison.” Hill thoughtfully explains that education is transformative and the "sine qua non" to genuine prison education rehabilitation. The following passage from the book is a letter from Hill to Brian describing the power of education in developing our minds. It is in response to Brian's comment on how prison can really “screw” with your head.

 

            “If prison can rework our brain like you say it does (Brian), actually screw with your intelligence,  
             intuition and reasoning skills – then why can’t the opposite be true?  The question is how can you 
             create the brain you want?. . . There are no real limits (‘Limitless’) to the ways the human brain   
             can be shaped by our wills. Damn,  it’s fascinating isn’t it?  Let’s both of us create superbrains!”    

 

A friend of mine here in prison also supports Prison Education Rehabilitation, but he expressed his feelings slightly differently than Hill Harper during a jailhouse debate (argument) on how he feels like a "Fuckin' Slave" because he wants to get a good job, but he can't get an education.

 

"I don't give a fuck if every White boy, Black and Latino Nigga in America was released right now. The hood would still be fucked up! In order to survive most of us are going to go right back to the shit that us here in the first place. We need college education or a trade before we hit the block so we can get a decent job to live. We're like 'Fuckin' Slaves' so DOC and the Courts can collect their state checks from us being here."

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COLLEGE VS. PRISON:

 

Affordable education should be a fundamental right for all Americans; unaffordable post-secondary education has destroyed the American Dream for millions of poor and middle-class families. Many are having trouble making school loan payments necessitated by large tuition increases. Exorbitant student loans, coupled with the lack of grants and scholarships, have broken the spirit of many college students. “Stealing” tax dollars from families to invest in prison systems that fail to reduce recidivism is unethical, immoral and, frankly, a crime against hardworking, overtaxed Americans, further expanding the Inequality Gap. WE have 2.4 million prisoners in America. The United States has the highest rate of global incarceration due to perpetual community victimization by recidivists. More than one in 100 adults is now locked up.  We only have 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners!

 

Isn’t it ironic that while ineffective inmate rehabilitation increases recidivism, the Department of Corrections benefits by helping itself to larger and larger amounts of taxpayer dollars?

 

According to the Institute for Higher Education Policy —

“The sizeable incarcerated population consists of people from low income backgrounds who are in need of education to improve their post-release opportunities for employment to reduce staggering high recidivism and the unsustainable financial cost of incarceration.”

 

Obama said his administration wants to make Pell grants available to inmates to help them get job training and secure a productive life after they get out of jail. The Second Chance Pell Pilot Program aims to help prisoners work toward an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree while incarcerated. “America is a nation of second chances,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement. “Giving people who have made mistakes in their lives a chance to get back on track and become contributing members of society is fundamental to who we are – it can also be a cost-saver for taxpayers." Education is by far the most effective form of prison rehabilitation. More than 30 years of countless research studies prove formally incarcerated individuals who are educated in jail are less likely to commit a crime, victimize innocent people and return to prison.

 

The following list demonstrates the effectiveness of prison education on reduced recidivism:

 

• Recidivism rates within three years of release of 55% for the state’s (California) general prison population and 0% for those who had completed a baccalaureate degree in prison.  J. Chase & R. Dickover, “University Education at Folsom Prison: An Evaluation,” 34 Journal of Correctional Education, 3, 92-96, (1983)

• A Rand study concluded that education is the most cost effective crime prevention available…”  Eric Blumenson, Professor Suffolk University Law School & Eva S. Nilson, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Boston University Law School, “How to Construct an Underclass or How the War on Drugs Became a War on Education,” 58(2002).  24. See supra note 92: Peter W. Greenwood et al, “Diverting Children from a Life of Crime:  Measuring Costs and Benefits,” 37-41 91996) (The Rand Study)

• A psychiatrist who directed the Massachusetts prison Mental Health Service reports that: “the most successful of all (anti-recidivism programs), and the only one that had been 100% effective in preventing recidivism was the program that allowed inmates to receive a college degree while in prison.  Several hundred prisoners in Massachusetts had completed at least a bachelor’s degree while in prison over a 25-year period and not one of them had returned to prison for a new crime.  James Gilian, “Reflections from a Life Behind Bars:  Build Colleges, Not Prisons,” Chronicle of Higher Education, 17 October 1998, at B7.

• The study examining the return on public investment in vocational and educational programs in Florida prisons concluded that those who completed certain educational programs produced a return of $3.53 per $1.00 invested. Florida Department of Corrections

• “Simply attending school behind bars reduces the likelihood of re-incarceration by 23%.  Translated into savings, every dollar spent on education returns more than two dollars to the citizens in reduced prison costs.” Stephen Steurer et al, “The Three State Recidivism Study,” (2001), available at www.research.umbe.edu/-ira/Recid Stud.doc

• A study of a Canadian prison college program produced a recidivism rate of 14% compared to 52% of the matched group of non-student prisoners.  Another study showed that inmates in New Mexico State Penitentiary who took college courses had an average recidivism rate of 15.5% compared to 68% of the entire inmate population.  Jon M. Taylor, “Post-Secondary Correctional Education: An Evaluation of Effectiveness and Efficacy,” 43 Journal of Correctional Education, 132 (1992).

• A City University of New York research study found that 7.7% of women inmates at New York State’s Bedford Hills Correctional Facility who took prison education courses returned to jail, compared to 29.9% of those who did not.  Michelle Fine et al. “The Impact of College in a Maximum Security Prison,” (2001), available at www.gc.cuny.edu/studies/studies index.htm.

• The Burlington College Prison of New Jersey: recidivism rate dropped from 80% to 10%

• Alexander City State Junior College: recidivism rate dropped from 85% to 16%

• Texas Windham School: 13.7% recidivism for those with associate’s degrees; 5.6% with Bas and 0% with Mas.

• Folsom Prison College: 0% recidivism for those with baccalaureate degrees

• Boston University of Massachusetts prison College: 0% recidivism for those with baccalaureate degrees

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Tens of thousands of students are affected by College vs. Prison. They are protesting everywhere, addressing numerous issues related to bigotry, tuition hikes, racism, government corruption, mass incarceration and Wall Street thievery resulting in an historically high income inequality gap. Bernie Sanders galvanized a movement that has captured the spirit of their desire to make real change. These motivated young people are often misunderstood and ignored, but they should be given more opportunities to help our society. Most poor, and some middle class students know someone who they care about who has served time in jail. Sadly, too many students from disadvantaged communities have family members who are addicted to drugs and may have a relative who has been killed by gun violence. These same students would like to help loved ones such as parents, siblings and friends who are incarcerated "Right Now."

 

The following solution, Project P.E.R.F.E.C.T., is designed to be transform penitentiaries into real correctional institutions by employing college students who believe people deserve a second chance and using these students to help change prisons into Genuine Rehabilitation Centers, where inmates pay their full debt to society, but are also provided with an opportunity to be educated for future employment. P.E.R.F.E.C.T. will significantly reduce prison populations and reduce recidivism by giving inmates adequate education and cognitive behavioral training for early parole and sentence reduction, allowing them to leave prison, become fulltime, loving fathers, caring family members and hardworking tax-paying citizens who contribute to the betterment of our nation.

 

Project P.E.R.F.E.C.T. is Tax Free and will be funded by a Social Impact Bond (SIB).  SIB is also known as “pay for success” and are not bonds, but loans to government agencies and service providers from investors in which investors provide up-front funding for a specific project chosen to produce a specific, cost-saving outcome for taxpayers.  If certain benchmarks are met up-front loan money is re-paid with interest.  The “cashable” cost savings are key because they are presumably the source of revenue used to pay back the investors.  SIBs have been useful in areas where government funds are tied up in remediation to the exclusion of funding prevention programs. SIBs have support at the highest level of government. The Obama administration introduced a social innovation fund to spur private investment in social problems and make up for “limited taxpayer dollars.”  At a time when Republicans and Democrats can’t seem to agree on anything, a $300M federal SIB bill, HR 4885 (the Social Impact Bond Act) introduced in June 2014, enjoyed bi-partisan support. The bill did not pass, but private investors and state governments are still moving forward and implementing programs funded by SIBs. A Harvard Kennedy School SIB incubator is one of the most popular programs among students and provides “technical assistance” to states considering SIBs.

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