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MAY 2005

Education Behind bars
Prison Teachers
By Nazneen Malik

As we settled into a round table discussion in one of the empty classrooms at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, I could not help but notice some of the prison inmates lingering behind, asking their teachers last minute questions as they put their notebooks away into transparent school bags. Teachers laughed. Inmates smiled and talked amongst themselves as they walked out of the classroom. I did not feel as though I was in a maximum-security prison.

Bedford Hills Correctional Facility (BHCF) is one of the few women’s’ prisons in the nation that provides inmates with academic programming. On arrival, inmates are administered an adult basic education exam designed by the Department of Education to assess mathematical and reading proficiency. The goal of BHCF is to ensure that upon release, inmates possess at least a high school diploma or the equivalent. In terms of academic programming, BHCF offers Adult Basic Education (ABE), Pre-GED, GED as well as bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees in conjunction with Marymount Manhattan College.

“There is value in a place like this,” stresses Sister Katherine Fisher, who teaches the pre-GED classes. “[Inmates] come in thinking they’re a failure and once they realize that they can do it and they feel [teachers] aren’t patronizing them, their entire person changes.” Prior to joining BHCF twenty years ago when the state still supported college in prison programs, Sister Fisher served as principal of a catholic school in Manhattan. “I’ve always wanted to teach,” says Sister Fisher, “and here we care about the inmates and are interested in where they are going.”

Marian DiFabbio, who teaches the GED class, could not agree more. She has been with BHCF for the past 12 years and considers her teaching experience at Bedford to be very rewarding. “You feel the students’ success personally,” she says. Students in her class prepare to take the basic education exam which is offered three times a year. Each of her two classes has about twenty students and they meet for three hours a day, five days a week. Students cover the entire high school curriculum over the course of four months. “It is difficult for the women because it’s a compressed amount of time,” explained DiFabbio, “but they stay motivated and they do the work.”

Not all students, however, are on the same level, and some students are further behind than others. Peggy Weiss, who has been with BHCF for five years, teaches a special education class which they refer to as Learning Labs. Her class basically functions like a big safety net that catches anyone who has a large discrepancy between their math and reading skills. Students in her class generally possess less than fifth grade level of proficiency in math and reading. They are also evaluated by a psychologist to verify that they belong in her class. Ms. Weiss also teaches elementary math and English in her ABE class.

In addition to these classes, BHCF also offers two ESL classes that are taught by Abe Graef who joined the facility about two months ago. Each class has roughly 15 students, and Mr. Graef is able to give them individualized attention. “The problem,” he explains, “is with basic literacy. Some students cannot even speak their own language properly and they often have to start from scratch.”

The teachers spoke very candidly about other problems they have observed as well. One-half of the prison population is medicated, says Peggy Leder, who teaches a Learning Lab and a pre-GED class. Sometimes, women want to learn but their medication prevents them from absorbing the information. Inmates who arrive to class from mental units sometimes create disruptions and have to be escorted out. Student turnover, due to inmate drafting where inmates are sent to other prisons, is another problem. Sometimes everyone remains in class for an extended period of time, yet there are other times when classes will have only a few students. The result is that these teachers experience difficulties that are normally non-existent in regular academic settings. Every day is different.

Nevertheless, the teachers at BHCF can attest to the willingness and eagerness the inmates have for learning. Even those with life sentences participate in the educational programs because it remains a source of hope. Therefore, it seems as though the students who take advantage of these programs understand the importance of education and the opportunities and benefits it provides, and make use of the support that is available to them from their teachers.#

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