New GED requirement benefits inmates, teachers
By SHERRY HALBROOK
School bells are ringing for nearly 2,000 state prison inmates.
From now on, all inmates who lack a high school diploma or its equivalent when they enter a state prison in New York must enroll in the prison’s educational program and stay in it until they either earn an equivalency diploma or their release from prison.
The policy, which aims to help inmates gain a better chance of making a positive return to their communities following release, does allow waivers for inmates “who cannot meet the requirement due to medical or emotional reasons or failure to show progress in the school program.”
The new policy, announced late last year by the state Department of Correctional Services (DOCS), is the result of several years of hard work by PEF and its labor-management team at DOCS.
“We have been working with DOCS management and the state Legislature to get a policy that requires inmates to receive a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) or to at least take GED classes before they are released from prison,” said PEF Executive Board Member Tom Donahue, PEF L-M chair at DOCS.
The new DOCS policy, he said, is similar to one that already exists in federal prisons. The state prisons will not hire new teachers to meet this new goal, nor will they be required to take teachers out of other classes to teach the GED courses. However, education supervisors will monitor class capacity, enrollment and education reports and adjust teaching assignments accordingly. If all of the academic programs at a prison are filled, those that need the GED classes will be placed on waiting lists.
PEF President Roger Benson congratulated Donahue and the team on their success.
“This new policy will require approximately 1,900 more inmates to enroll in educational programs during their incarcerations,” Benson said. “That should generate enough work over the next two years to protect our DOCS teachers from losing their jobs while the state’s inmate population continues to decline.
“Break-through agreements such as these are an example of the extremely positive outcomes that can result from long-term positive labor-management relationships,” Benson added. He also expressed PEF’s appreciation to DOCS Commissioner Glenn Goord and to the chairs of the corrections committees in the state Legislature — Assembly Member Jeffrion Aubry and state Sen. Michael
Nozzolio — “for their progressive leadership and support of this important initiative.”
The
Communicator May 2005
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