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Walla Walla prison inmates study for a better life, inside and outside the walls

Walla Walla Union-Bulletin - 2/24/2020

Feb. 23--Brent Caulk, dean of Walla Walla Community College's re-entry education program at Washington State Penitentiary, says he hears it all the time: Why is tax money being spent on educating prison inmates?

Why do criminals get free college while law-abiding people don't?

Then there's the question of the penitentiary's partnership with Walla Walla Community College, an institution that is mired in a harsh financial reality right now.

The answers to such concerns have a lot of layers, Caulk said, including well-established facts about recidivism and safer communities.

To that end, a new education building at the Walla Walla penitentiary opened its doors to students last week, checking a box that's long been on the state's wish list.

When the prison's new medium-custody units opened six years ago to house about 250 offenders, no money was left to create programming space for classes and more. That meant cobbling together classrooms for each unit to "offer what we could," Caulk recalled.

Two years ago, though, money was awarded by the state to move forward in creating a dedicated building of classes for inmates who require a medium-custody level -- perhaps someone with a record of disobeying prison rules or serving a life sentence, Superintendent Don Holbook said.

Education in Washington state penitentiaries is contracted through local state colleges but paid for through separate funding sources independent of a school's budget, Caulk said.

In place now is a 22,000-square-foot structure with 10 classrooms, a testing room, library and secured offices.

It cost $7.5 million to build, with a number of local companies providing crews and materials.

The building, like any at a prison, is made of concrete and designed to maximize safety for all, said Holbrook, listing a number of high- and low-tech security measures installed.

"You won't see a sheet-rocked, wooden building in a prison. If you have a problem, you don't want it growing," Holbrook said. "You want to contain it."

No matter how the school looks from the outside, his staff delivers standard community-college teaching on the inside, Caulk said

"On any given day, we deliver education to nearly 1,000 inmates in our 2,500-man facility," he said, adding that penitentiary instruction matches that found at WWCC's Walla Walla and Clarkston campuses.

That said, the field of classes is necessarily much narrower and what is offered must check certain boxes, the dean explained.

"We can't just make up a program, it has to pass the 'acid test'," he said. For example, will it lead to a living-wage job and can a felon work in that field? "Welding is a 'yes,' nursing is 'no,'" he said.

There are other roadblocks to consider, Caulk said.

"Like an irrigation technologist program. That's a great job for a felon, but it's very difficult to find an instructor because they can make so much more in the private sector."

Or forklift driving -- a good skill, but at a wage too low to support a released offender and keep him away from crime, he said.

The WWCC programs offered at 1313 N. 13th Ave. include digital design, carpentry, heating and cooling, GED, classes toward a degree or transfer to a four-year program, Caulk said, adding inmates can also attend a learning lab.

And yes, these students don't pay tuition, he acknowledged.

For those going to college on the other side of the bars, scholarships and private and government education grants are available to nearly everyone who really wants to attend a state college.

The move away from punitive incarceration to a successful re-entry into society arrived in Washington state in the early 2000s, Caulk said.

That meant giving inmates the tools to do better on the outside.

"A key point is, when people are incarcerated, 90 to 95% are going back to communities. The legislature saw this and said there is no way for that to work with no skills," the dean said.

"They will do exactly what they did in the past."

Re-entry means being able to find employment so that a paycheck -- not crime -- is paying the bills. Without job skills, a felon stands virtually no chance of "digging out," Caulk said.

"If you punish a guy ... they do their time, and they have nothing. Their options are to couch surf, go homeless or go back to prison."

In the case of men who will never walk free, attending classes serves another purpose, Holbrook and Caulk said.

Not only does the school day help a man resist negative behaviors and improve his self-worth, such students carry the message of higher education back to their living units, influencing others to consider taking classes.

Whoever attends college at the penitentiary must do so via their own two feet, Holbrook said.

"We can't force an agenda. They have to walk into it."

Caulk agreed.

"If a guy will engage, we'll get him to a better place."

Sheila Hagar can be reached at sheilahagar@wwub.com or 509-526-8322.

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