CURE NEWS: News Conference in Leavenworth on Work-Study Rehabilitation Models

International CURE (Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants), a grassroots prison reform organization, will hold a public news conference at 2:00 p.m., Friday, May 4, at America's Best Values & Suites, 101 S. 3rd St. in Leavenworth, Kansas. The news conference will provide information regarding CURE's "Earn To Learn, To Not Return" model for prison reform. CURE will hold its annual meeting in Leavenworth this weekend. This year's conference focus is on innovative and cost effective programs to reduce recidivism: Earn to Learn, To not Return! That theme is what brought CURE's members to Kansas for their meeting, and the efforts of Kansas City, Kansas-based Donnelly College are central to their visit. "The Kansas Department of Corrections has two models where people in prison not only are paid good wages, but also use these wages to pay for higher education credits," explained Charlie Sullivan, CURE Director. "Beginning on Friday morning, about 75 participants representing 25 states and two foreign countries will tour these programs," Sullivan continued. Specifically, they will tour a private industry where inmates work outside the prison and then they will visit an industry inside the prison, as well as visiting a classroom of Donnelly College's Associate Degree Program. REAL WORLD WORK RELEASE Zephyr Products, a sheet metal fabrication company, will be the first industry toured, and its founder Fred Braun will describe this 18-month national model work release program. The program has employed 518 inmate-employees since it began in 1979 and 163 have paroled while working at the company. This skills education program has resulted in a substantial recidivism reduction rate. REAL WORK IN THE PRISON Then, the group will tour Impact Design, a company within the prison that hires incarcerated persons within the Lansing Correctional Facility. Kenneth Gibson, President of Donnelly College, will talk at the news conference about Donnelly's Associate Degree program that has existed at Lansing Correctional Facility for six years. In part, he will describe how these prisoners are using income earned to pay one-third of their college tuition. Donnelly College raises money to support the remaining tuition and program costs. "Of course," Sullivan concluded, "through these work-study programs, these people in prison are in a much better position to 'make it' when they re-enter society. Everyone wins - the taxpayer, the person in prison and his or her family. We are hoping that our tour/forum will provide the impetus for adoption of these models throughout the country." CURE (Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants) is a membership organization of families of prisoners, prisoners, former prisoners and other concerned citizens. CURE's two goals are (1) to use prisons only for those who have to be in them (2) and for those who have to be in them, to provide them all the rehabilitative opportunities they need to turn their lives around. CURE is based in Washington, D.C. It has hosted several national and international conferences since its beginning in 1972, and advocates for prison reform on a number of related issues, including Prisoner Employment through Private Industry, Prison Labor Reform, Death Penalty, Drug Laws, Education for Prisoners, and Alternatives to Incarceration. Donnelly College is a private, Catholic college that has been serving the urban core of Kansas City, Kansas, since 1949 with the mission to provide education and community services with personal concern for the needs and abilities of each student, especially those who might not otherwise be served." Donnelly College, a federally designated Minority Serving Institution and Hispanic Serving Institution, began a second campus at Lansing Correctional Facility in 2001 as an extension of its mission to educate those who might not otherwise be served. Since it began, 120 classes have been offered, 13 prisoners have earned an Associate's Degree, and 256 prisoners have completed classes. Of those, 66 have been released, and with a recidivism rate of less than 1%, compared to the national average of 53%. Donnelly is proud to partner with Lansing Correctional Facility and Private Industry to make its college program a life-changing experience for these individuals. Donnelly's program success suggests that earning a college degree is an effective way to lower recidivism (returning to crime after release from prison). For more information, call CURE at 202-789-2126 or Donnelly College at 913-621-8707, or Fred Braun at 913-651-7949 and feel free to forward this to anyone interested.