It is the rare day when I open the paper and find some news that makes me smile. June 7 was such a day, with the front page story “Learning on their own time: Clark College programs inside Larch Corrections Center aim to teach inmates vital job skills.” There was a time when prison was a rehabilitative experience rather than the punishing experience it has been in recent decades. The effectiveness of educational opportunities for prisoners is evidenced in significantly reduced recidivism rates, reduced social service costs for those prisoners who have served their time, and an improved tax base when former prisoners become productive citizens rather than, as inmate and student Kevin Wasava so wisely said, “the 11th bum.”
Clark College, Larch Corrections Center, the state of Washington and, most of all, the successful program graduates deserve high praise and the thanks of the community. Now the community needs to press our congressional representatives to reinstate federal funds for prisoner education and for the infusion of Pell Grant availability to all.
Lois Murphy
Vancouver
