TO: Chairman
FROM: Professor Dora Costa, Chairman Economics Department
SUBJECT: UCLA Prison Education Program
After doing my research and due diligence on the program that the UCLA is to offer to take part in prisons education program I have come up with the conclusion that the program will have a lot of benefits and as the chair of this department I put the department support behind the program. Mass incarceration has been a problem that has rocked the state and the country at large for long time. As the economic department we believe that education is the key to success and a solution to many of the vices that have put these women behind bars. Research shows a troubling statistic that in the united stated two out of every three inmates end up back in prison after being released. This is because the women do not have anything else to do and therefore end up back in crime. A large fraction of the women in prison are not educated at levels of higher learning and do not have a stable source of income. It is important to note that prison are meant for rehabilitation too and not incapacitation alone. This program will give hope to the inmates reducing the many cases of suicide that are reported
If we sponsor this program, the goal is to educate the inmates on ways that they can use once they are released to make their own income. This program scope for the moment is 25-50 women to start with. The number is small and therefore the prospective is viable since not a lot of resources would be engaged in this endeavor. This program will be a good way that UCLA can also give back to the society as well as giving the students a chance to do the same. There is also a great deal the students can learn from the program.
Reference
Why Are So Many Inmates Attempting Suicide at the California Institution for Women?. Retrieved from http://www.laweekly.com/news/why-are-so-many-inmates-attempting-suicide-at-the-california-institution-for-women-7156615
The Plan To Give Pell Grants To Prisoners. (2018). NPR.org. Retrieved 15 April 2018, from http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/07/31/428148089/the-plan-to-give-pell-grants-to-prisoners
Zimmerman, J. (2018). Scholars Behind Bars. The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 15 April 2018, from http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/02/23/scholars-behind-bars-college-prison
