Prison education systems

[Plow]

Ok, so, long story short, my best friend just took a plea bargain-- which got him down to 24 years.

He's been in and out for a couple years, I kept thinking maybe it would actually be good for him, and convince him that he needs to stop the stupid shit, but I was quite wrong indeed.


So, at the moment, he's in county. He'll be there until mid March, at which time he gets his "official sentencing," which is essentially nothing more than deciding where he's going to do the time. At that point he moves into the federal system, so really anywhere in the country becomes an "option," although we'd like for him to be close enough that we can visit regularly. (all his family and friends are close by here in Kansas, but Leavenworth is like a 4 hour drive from Wichita)


I've taken it upon myself to do some research, but honestly I'm not really sure where to even get started. I know there are pretty decent systems for education in prison. Also, when I visited him today, he mentioned that he'd finally gotten access, briefly, to a computer. The computer basically had nothing on it but the Brittanica electronic encyclopedia. He was excited even for the chance to mess around with that though, which is a really good sign.


I'm basically looking for 2 things:

Firstly, the best possible education system within any prison. He's currently marked as "dangerous," because he had a gun on him when he got caught, although I think they'll be somewhat lenient about it because he didn't like... point it at anybody or anything, let alone actually use it. If we can't find something that would offer training in the direction he'd like to go, I at least want to find out where the "best" are.

Secondly, he's a big computer guy. He'd be a perfect candidate for that classic movie story of the hacker turned good, helping protect against the people doing what he used to do. So, what I'd really, really like to find is a system that would offer training along those lines. Be it programming, possibly even some kind of engineering (he's not the smartest guy in the world, but he works hard at the shit he wants to learn and gets a grasp of it through dedication), or even as simple as your basic "technician certification."



So, yeah, he will have a chance to make a request for where he would hope to end up. I really want to be able to give him some things to look at, particularly with education involving tech, but really any place where he could go into the sentencing and say "Look, I really want to learn while I'm stuck here, and be capable of being a productive citizen when I've paid my penance. With some help researching, I've come to the conclusion that (insert facilities here) would be the best possible option for me to do so."

And, like I said, I hardly even know where to start looking.


So, does anyone have any personal/friendly/family/whatever experience regarding this kind of situation? Or just know about any particularly good systems that are in place now? Or, even just know where I should be looking?

[Qalbert]

I'm going to Wichita. Far from this opera for evermore.

[TheShadyMan]

Might be able to get in on some online classes?

[Kurt Cobain]

pretty sure inmate prison use is TEH BANNDZ unless you're minimum security and even then for only 30 min increments, a chick in an ls of mine went to prison for beating someone with an iron

[Mizango]

If he attending public school he should have no problem getting acclimated into the prison education system.


I hate seeing friends don't dumb shit and get big numbers like that. Hopefully this will wake him up so that he will be happy that he only got that.

[Epical]

Sorry for the uselessness of this post, but the second I saw this thread title I thought of System. =(

[Plow]

If he attending public school he should have no problem getting acclimated into the prison education system.


I hate seeing friends don't dumb shit and get big numbers like that. Hopefully this will wake him up so that he will be happy that he only got that.

He definitely is, his lawyer definitely sat him down and said "Ok, you can fight this, and you will lose. The official sentence then will be 85 years. Or, you can take the plea and get 24."

I'm not sure it's exactly hit him yet, though. He's fortunate in that he's going to be a top of the food chain kind of guy in there, but at the same time I think that may be a bad thing, as it might just make him take longer to realize what he's in for.


But yeah, I'm pretty sure he'll do quite well in whatever kind of educational system we can get him set up with, it's just a question of where's the best hope for it to really make a difference.

[ircgeek]

Education is rough in prison. Mind you, this is what I know from the WI prison system, could be different depending on where you are.

Online classes? I don't think so. As far as I know, most prisons frown on any kind of online access for prisoners at all. They do offer some courses by mail, though, and I think it's based on location. Your selection is limited, however, too. For instance, here? Only choice was Business Administration. Again, with the whole fear of prisoners using computers at all, don't expect a Computer Science degree to be possible.

There's still extreme costs involved, too, so that's something to take into consideration. Same as on the outside, though, if someone else took courses previously, you might be able to score some used books off another inmate. Otherwise, someone's going to need to send you some cash.

Besides that, there's always ways to learn skills like welding and the like.

High school diploma is pretty easy, but yeah, college education is a lot rougher. There should be someone around there in charge or education, though, and they'll fill him in if he pursues it.

[Khamsin]

How elaborate are the education options? Just vocational, or can he be a doctor or a lawyer? Has he considered getting into teaching? He can teach high school computer classes or something. Or if he likes kids, maybe run a daycare.

[TheShadyMan]

I don't think you're allowed to run a daycare after spending 24 years in jail...

[Plow]

I don't think you're allowed to run a daycare after spending 24 years in jail...

woosh't


Seriously though, I'm just trying to find any way possible to make the punishment actually make a difference beyond they massive waste of life.

[Zilong]

You...do realize he's going to prison right?

[#686578]

If he attending public school he should have no problem getting acclimated into the prison education system.


I hate seeing friends don't dumb shit and get big numbers like that. Hopefully this will wake him up so that he will be happy that he only got that.

Hey, I dont go around the forum yapping about your sex life, keep what I and my big Numbers do in our personal life private please. Not to mention you dont have to go and make it sound insulting to get with this. You could be a little more flattering.

If your friend is actually interested there should actually be a lot in the way of electronic learning, for computer technician I would recommend starting out with the simple A+ cert. It basically just says you know the hardware of a computer and the basics of software. It's something to kind of lol at but it's also the most basic you can get and actually a requirement at some places.

[Plow]

You...do realize he's going to prison right?

As hard as it is to believe, there are actually people trying to get prisons to be something more than free room and board for fuck-ups.


Oh, and he has a high school diploma and A+ cert, he worked putting together computers for a year or 2.

I figure there's not much like that going on (especially considering if he doesn't get lucky with work release etc he's going to be over 50 when he gets out, not exactly like technology is going to stay the same in that time), that's why I mentioned it as an afterthought really. What I'm really trying to figure out is what prisons would be "best known" or whatever for actually rehabilitating people.

[#686578]

That's all he needs really... you could look into some of the other CompTIA available certifications. CompTIA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Khamsin]

Is your friend an introverted lanky, weak pansy or does he have some muscle and the attitude to back it up? I think he'll have other things to worry about for the next 24 years, regardless.

[Plow]

Is your friend an introverted lanky, weak pansy or does he have some muscle and the attitude to back it up? I think he'll have other things to worry about for the next 24 years, regardless.

He's about 6'4 235ish with no fat. He's been doing 800 pushups a day since he's been in.


He was on the news and shit cuz it took them 40 minutes to get him stopped and in the end he had like 20+ cops with guns drawn on him.


He's in for robbing 3 banks. Because, you know, doing 2 and getting away with it wasn't enough.


He'll be quite fine in that regard.

[Shuemue]

Sounds like he doesn't deserve much in the way of help. He's obviously intelligent enough to get a proper job, let the fucker rot.

[Plow]

Sounds like he doesn't deserve much in the way of help. He's obviously intelligent enough to get a proper job, let the fucker rot.

If only you knew how stupid the shit was.


Basically, I'll put it this way: he doesn't believe he can have a happy life doing shit the right way. That's what needs to change.

[Akiyama]

Well I'd say it's sort of too late to change now. How old is he anyway? Also, it sucks when people who actually have the brains to do something good with their lives just go and fuck it up.