Ohio University has its share of non-traditional students, but one program targets an unusual group of potential students across the country - the incarcerated.
The university's College Program for the Incarcerated provides correspondence courses tailored specifically for people in prison. An extension of the Lifelong and Distance Learning Program, the College Program for the Incarcerated extends to states far beyond Ohio.
(OU's) is the only program I'm aware of that targets incarcerated students on a national basis; others generally deal with their own states
said Ken Armstrong, director of independent study at OU. That's what's so special about this program. It's known around the country.
More than 90 percent of students involved in the program fund their schooling themselves or with the help of their families. The program, which has been around for 30 years, had almost a thousand students enrolled in the 2008-09 school year - the program's banner year, Armstrong said.
For Jennifer Fox, a 31-year-old inmate at the Danbury Federal Prison Camp in Danbury, Conn., it was OU's inmate-only program that caught her eye.
In 2006 I reached a point in my life that I knew my life needed a serious change and a new direction Fox said in a letter. Ohio University really stood out for
me because it was a whole program designed for the incarcerated.
Fox is serving out a 120-month sentence for a drug conspiracy charge and expects to be released early in 2012. She is working toward an associate degree in social sciences and has almost 30 credits.
Inmates participating in OU's program are not on a quarters program, and average 2-4 courses each year, said Ginny Cottrill, academic adviser in OU's Lifelong and Distance Learning Program. The cost of taking 12-14 credits through the program is $2,050.
For the OU faculty members working with the program's participants, the benefits are clear.
It's pretty well established that education lowers recidivism
Armstrong said. That's what has most people interested.
Education also saves tax dollars, according to a 2008 study by Gerald Gaes, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Office of Research.
The average percentage of inmates who commit crimes again once they are released drops 38.4 percentage points for those who participate in education programs, according to the study. The study also showed that it costs an average of $962 to put a prisoner through a general education program and taxpayers save an average of $5,306 for every prisoner who does not return to prison.
Inmates taking correspondence courses through OU's program can earn several associate degrees, including applied business and individualized studies. The majority do not earn a degree in prison, but rather transfer their credits to another institution upon leaving.
Students, upon entering the program, are assigned a faculty member who helps with their DARS and course options. Many of them work with Cottrill.
This is an opportunity they can't get anywhere else
Cottrill said. Everything else about prison is pretty negative. This is a way to give them a positive experience in negative atmosphere.
OU's College Program for the Incarcerated has an unusual student in Olen Hutchison. The 56-year-old is on death row at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tenn., after being convicted of first-degree murder in 1990.
Hutchison, who in a letter said he is innocent, started taking classes because of a promise to his son, Trent, who dropped out of junior college. They would both take college courses.
Now, he serves as a teacher's aide in prison while he and his son work toward their master's degrees. The two will start studies for their Ph.D. at the same time, and Hutchison is the first person on Tennessee's death row to earn a degree.
I didn't do it to be the first
Hutchison said. I did it because of a promise to my son.
Hutchison has taken, or plans to take, classes at several institutions in addition to OU, including the University of Tennessee and California Coast University, but he said OU went above and beyond.
The value I put on OU is their staff. Just about any school can say
here is the textbook
I wish you luck on the test
he said. It's the staff that makes OU what it is ... I turned down 12 other universities just to go to Ohio
and I'm glad to know I had made the right choice.
