L.I.F.E. PROGRAM

The L.I.F.E. Program (Learning Is For Everyone) at the New Jersey State Prison was established in 1985 in response to the needs of a growing illiterate inmate population. It is estimated that 75% of the inmates at New Jersey State Prison are illiterate or functionally illiterate reading below a fourth grade level. With prison education programs losing financial support, founder and community volunteer William Burke realized the need for a corps group of community volunteers, educators and inmates to work together towards the common goal of increasing literacy within prisons:

"I recognized the staggering illiteracy rate in the prisons and realized that a lot of these guys carry a stigma about their inability to read. I thought that a one-on-one tutor session with another inmate would give them the confidentiality needed to encourage them to come back to school. I also know there is a lot of talent in the prison population and the men could run this program themselves. All I had to do was ask the inmates and they jumped at the offer."

Now after seventeen years, this unique inmate-run program has successfully improved the literacy skills of 236 men and has allowed them to either acquire a GED certificate, have the ability to read a book to their children or letters from home.

Assistant Program Manager Gene Berta emphasizes the program's goals:

"If you can't read, you can't function. The guys realize this and they're tired of asking friends for help reading letters or writing home...A lot of guys can't go into the law library and work on their case to try to get themselves either a reduced sentence or an appeal process because they can't read."

The success of the L.I.F.E. program is due to the involvement of the inmates and their sense of ownership of the program. Inmates volunteer to tutor their fellow inmates for a two-hour session once a week. Each tutor is trained and certified by the Literacy Volunteers of America (LVA) as a certified reading instructor. LVA educators Robert and Anne McCleery hold classes to instruct inmate tutors on the best methods of instruction for adult literacy students. The L.I.F.E. inmate managers then match these tutors with students to begin their tutor-student sessions. Anne McCleery, LVA educator, affirms:

"My husband and I teach in many prison literacy programs and often see those programs dissolve. The L.I.F.E. Program is unique because the men are very dedicated and manage a consistently high quality program that has lasted these many years."

One of the unique aspects of the L.I.F.E.. Program is its recognition of learning disabilities among its students. The American prison population has a four times greater percentage of learning-disabled individuals than the general population. Although Learning Volunteers of America train the inmate-tutors with skills needed for reading instruction, a more specialized training using multisensory strategies is needed to teach the learning-disabled student. Volunteers from ABC Literacy Resources conduct additional tutor-training sessions to help them identify strengths and deficiencies in their students and to become skilled teachers of the Orton Gillingham-based instruction. Elaine Phillips, one of the founders of ABC Literacy Resources, states:

"With such disproportionately high numbers of inmates with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, it is vital that we give these inmate tutors the skills to recognize the impediments affecting their students learning."

The benefits to the New Jersey State Prison community are numerous. Not only are inmates improving their literacy skills, but also the program provides a cost-effective, purposeful prisoner activity and gives inmates working as tutors the chance to spend their time in a positive, supportive role while using organization and management skills. Over the years, the L.I.F.E. Program has come under the authority of three prison administrations that have recognized its value to the individual men. Prison Administrator Roy Hendricks recently commented:

"This institution is geared more towards compliance … Inmates are doing 50, 100, 300 years. If an inmate goes to school over a period of time, he begins to feel better about himself and the number of disciplinary charges he incurs are significantly reduced…We depend on our volunteers to provide positive programming for the men here at New Jersey State Prison."

Over the past seventeen years, the program has had 136 tutors and 236 students who have reached their personal goals of obtaining a GED, enrolling in school, reading a book, reading to their children or reading letters from home. One student received his GED and then became a tutor in the program. Program Manager William Brown states:

"We've had students who couldn't read or write and after completing the program, they got their GED. For us, that's a success story."

The L.I.F.E. Program was the first literacy program in the New Jersey prison system to use community and prisoner volunteers and has become a model for other literacy programs. The Program continues to tutor 44 students with 46 tutors and has a wait list for both new tutors and students. The L.I.F.E. managers have also assisted fellow Hispanic inmates to establish H.E.L.P. (Hispanic Education Literacy Program), a Hispanic literacy program. The managers have published a detailed manual with instructions and suggestions on managing the specifics of the program, recruiting tutors and community volunteers, fund-raising and publicity, and maintaining a relationship with prison officials. It is the hopes of the founders and managers that other correctional institutions will establish their own inmate-run literacy program.

The program depends on financial assistance from grants and private sources. This has allowed the program to remain financially independent, thus relieving New Jersey State Prison of the fiscal responsibility for the program. By receiving these donations, the L.I.F.E. Program has been able to successfully continue its mission.

Anyone interested in making a donation to support
the program can make checks payable to
"L.I.F.E. Program, New Jersey State Prison"

Mail to:
Peter Ronaghan, Business Manager
Business Office
New Jersey State Prison
P.O. Box 861
Trenton, NJ 08625-0861

The managers of the L.I.F.E. Program have prepared
a manual for those interested in starting an inmate-run literacy program
in correctional institutions. To receive a manual free of charge
or to contact members of the program, write to:

L.I.F.E. Program
c/o William Brown, Program Manager
77729-187619A
New Jersey State Prison
P.O. Box 861
Trenton, NJ 08625-0861

Push reading skills at prison

Building reading skills among prison inmates represents the kind of small idea that can pay off with much bigger results for those incarcerated, as well as the larger community.




The work of Rose Kreitinger, the Read Right coordinator at the North Dakota State Penitentiary, addresses a key barrier to getting a job and getting along in life for many prison inmates - the inability to be an effective reader. It's an obstacle to getting a good job. It's a hindrance to good citizenship.

We like that it's a practical, pragmatic program. It's no sea change. No silver bullet. No social makeover. It's a program that assists people with a fundamental skill: reading. It doesn't fix people; it gives people a tool for fixing their own lives.

Twenty percent of the 520 inmates at the state pen do not have a GED or high school diploma. That lack of basic education speaks loudly to the potential for recidivism. Prison authorities require those without a high school degree, or equivalent, to attend educational classes aimed at earning a diploma. It's a common-sense requirement.

It's hard to imagine the difficulties that people returning to their communities face after serving time. But to face the music with limited reading and other basic learning skills must be overwhelming. It leads to the "same old, same old." This not an issue for public sympathy; rather, it represents the potential for more lawlessness, for which the public pays for in taxes and is the victim.

Pumping up a felon's ability to read will not guarantee a job, a better life or a law-abiding life. But it can help. Effective reading also requires the development of logical thought processes and critical thinking. Add to that access to ideas and knowledge, all of which one might hope improves judgment.

Those prison inmates who constructively take part in the program have an opportunity to change their lives. That's the best anyone gets. The rest must be earned. What percentage of them will succeed, we do not know. We are not naive about the prospects. Turning someone's life around is remarkably difficult, as experience indicates.

The work of Kreitinger was presented by Tribune photographer Mike McCleary as a "Neighbors" feature on Monday. Her work deserves support and acknowledgement. She's making a difference.

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