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lifestyle WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2016 In this photo taken Thursday, Jan 28, 2016, Rudy Madrigal, left, shares a fist bump with fellow inmate Nicolas Melendrez Rudy Madrigal, center, looks on as he sits with fellow inmates in a college world history class at the Monroe Correctional before Madrigal headed into his world history classroom, at right, at the Monroe Correctional Complex in Monroe, Wash. Complex in Monroe, Wash. College education in American prisons is starting to grow again, more than two decades since federal government dollars were prohibited from being used for college programs behind bars. College behind bars An old idea with some new energy ight years ago, when Noel Caldellis began ects associated with criminal justice. Now more ticipate in any kind of educational program serving time for killing a university student, dollars are starting to follow those results, led by behind bars are 43 percent less likely to reof- Ehis main objective was to make 20-plus a recent decision by the US Department of fend. Another study paid for by the Indiana years in prison pass as quickly as possible: work Education to experiment again with federal Pell Department of Correction found that while all out, walk circles in the yard with inmates and Grants for inmate students. Forty-seven states kinds of inmate education has a positive influ- watch TV. A few years into his sentence at the have applied to participate in that program. ence on recidivism, inmates who take college Monroe Correctional Complex, Caldellis discov- States such as Washington, New York and courses have a prison return rate of less than 5 ered he could spend his time developing his California also are looking into spending more percent. That’s compared to the national aver- mind as well as his body, moving from the state dollars on these programs. Rudy Madrigal, age of nearly 68 percent within three years of weight room to the classroom. “It’s helped me a student in Washington’s University Beyond release, federal statistics show. tremendously to grow as a person,” said Bars program, said the experience transformed In Washington state, private donations have Caldellis, who is working on a bachelor’s degree his life. been paying for college classes at prisons across in history. the state since 2008. The state also provides vocational education in subjects ranging from DEGREE WITH A SCHOLARSHIP computer coding to auto mechanics. One way Madrigal, who expects to serve about 24 Washington is unique among the states is how years for second-degree murder and assault many inmates are participating in its education with a deadly weapon, said he had a rough start programs. It has about 16,500 inmates and to his sentence, getting in fights and other trou- 11,000 are involved in education, said Mike Paris, Inmate Jayson Bush raises his hand in a college world history ble. He took his first class as another way to pass state administrator of offender education. In class at the Monroe Correctional Complex. the time, but started getting excited about comparison, in California less than a quarter of project this fall to pair four community colleges school after really connecting with a math its more than 112,000 inmates participate in with state prisons to provide classes. In the past, teacher and finding out he could work toward a educational programs. most California inmates going to college took degree with a scholarship from a private founda- online classes supported by private dollars. In tion. “Since I started school and educating FREE COLLEGE EDUCATION 2014, New York Gov Andrew Cuomo said the myself, I’ve built up connections not just with The Vera Institute’s Pathways from Prison to state would be putting money back into inmate people in here but with people out there,” said Post-Secondary Education Program, which is education programs. Lawmakers fought the Madrigal, who hopes after prison to get into paid for with private foundation money, gives plan, saying it rewarded criminal behavior, but social services to help other people. inmates a free college education, both in prison others pointed out how much less expensive it is While his path is personally enriching, state and after release, along with other supports to educate prisoners than to incarcerate them. officials and prison experts say the community is such as mentoring and housing assistance for Authorities estimate New York spends about the real beneficiary. A Rand Corporation study inmates in Michigan, New Jersey and North Katja Schatte, left, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of $60,000 a year to incarcerate one prisoner while Washington, talks with inmate Noel Caldellis in a world histo- on education in prisons found inmates who par- Carolina. California will be starting a new pilot a year of college in prison will cost about ry class Schatte teaches at the Monroe Correctional Complex $5,000. Katja Schatte, a PhD candidate at the in Monroe, Wash. University of Washington who teaches world history at the Washington state prison in Monroe, said criminal justice reform is inter- College education in American prisons is twined with so many things happening in starting to grow again, more than two decades American society today - from the Black Lives since federal government dollars were prohibit- Matter movement to inequity in public schools. ed from being used for college programs behind “People should be thinking about how do we bars. The shift comes as everyone from President keep people out of prisons in the first place and Barack Obama to state policymakers are looking education is the answer,” Schatte said. This story for ways to get better results from the $80 billion has been corrected to reflect that Washington the US spends annually on incarceration. Private University’s program is called Beyond Bars, not money kept some prison education programs Behind Bars. — AP going when government dollars vanished. Several recent studies have shown those proj- ects cut crime and prison costs by helping inmates go home and stay there instead of returning. “Education in prison is transformative. It leads to safer communities and that’s to the benefit of everyone,” said Fred Patrick, director of the Center on Sentencing and Corrections at the Inmates look on in their Vera Institute of Justice, a New York nonprofit college world history that combines research and demonstration proj- class. — AP photos ‘Airport’ star George Kennedy dead at 91 eorge Kennedy, who won a supporting actor Oscar for destructively as does the warden or the guards.” Location,” published in 1983, and “Murder on High, released his role alongside Paul Newman in the beloved film During the 1970s he made two attempts at starring in his in 1984. His autobiography, “Trust Me,” was published in G“Cool Hand Luke,” and was also a fixture of 1970s disas- own television series: 1971’s brief “Sarge,” in which he played a 2011. Kennedy was married four times, the first time to ter movies including the “Airport” franchise and “Earthquake,” priest with a police background, and 1975’s “The Blue Knight,” Dorothy Gillooly in the 1940s, the second (and third) time to died Sunday in Boise, Idaho. He was 91. His grandson Cory an adaptation of the Joseph Wambaugh novel and subsequent Norma Wurman. His fourth wife, Joan McCarthy, died last Schenkel reported the death on his Facebook page. TV movie in which he played a Los Angeles beat cop. year. He is survived by two children and several grandchil- While Kennedy largely played gruff, blue-collar characters Other notable film credits during the 1970s included dren. — Reuters in dramas and genre films, he allowed a comedic side to Michael Cimino’s “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”; “The Eiger emerge in the deadpan “The Naked Gun” movies. Sanction”; and Agatha Christie period mystery “Death on the Kennedy appeared in all four of the “Airport” movies of the Nile,” in which he was gruff as always but in this case excep- 1970s as Joe Patroni, the reluctant, cigar-chomping but highly tionally well groomed. He worked steadily in the 1980s but effective chief mechanic who could be counted upon when made an impression only in the 1988 deadpan police comedy the chips were down and supreme expertise was required. He “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” and its also turned in a powerful performance in 1975’s “Earthquake” sequels. He recurred on primetime soap “Dallas” as rancher as the hearty, sentimental police sergeant Slade, who helps Carter McKay from 1988-91 and appeared in the reunion where he can in the wake of the devastating temblor. telepics “Dallas: J.R. Returns” (1996) and “Dallas: War of the Kennedy toiled in the TV trenches for much of the 1960s, Ewings” (1998). especially guesting on Westerns-and occasionally appearing in Most recently he appeared in the 2014 crime drama remake supporting roles in high-profile films such as “In Harm’s Way,” “The Gambler,” starring Mark Wahlberg. Kennedy was born in “The Sons of Katie Elder,” “The Flight of the Phoenix” and “The New York City to parents in show business. He first appeared Dirty Dozen.” onstage at the age of two, but later he would spend 16 years in He finally burst into the public consciousness with his 1967 the U.S. Army, ultimately working for Armed Forces Radio. He This file photo taken on March 22, 2003 shows US actor role as Dragline in “Cool Hand Luke,” in which he was second- participated in the opening of the Army Information Office, George Kennedy saluting as he arrives at the 75th billed and held his own alongside star Paul Newman.

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