Future Stories for Offenders: Lisa Culp at TEDxLCSC
Educators and human service professionals can fundamentally change their views on incarcerated populations by implementing specific teaching strategies, like requiring students to present concepts without notes, because successful case studies show significant reductions in recidivism rates. The speaker argues that the perceived "malign" group of people in poverty and prison possess untapped assets, such as acute nonverbal reading skills and commitment, which can be unlocked through education and community integration. These opportunities require teaching methods that validate the students' existing reality while building abstract thinking skills for future success.
## Speakers & Context
- Speaker: Educator/human service advocate who spent a year teaching at Walla Walla Community College at Coyote Ridge.
- Topic: Shifting the paradigm regarding populations perceived as "malign," specifically focusing on people in poverty and those incarcerated.
- Aim: To present educational strategies for marginalized and under-resourced groups to reduce recidivism and improve community contribution.
## Theses & Positions
- The idea that education can fundamentally change the lives of people in prison.
- Specific teaching strategies can be successfully applied to marginalized populations, including under-resourced students.
- Community involvement is vital for expanding and improving the corporate view of offenders.
- Offenders possess inherent assets and advantages (e.g., reading nonverbal cues, resourcefulness, commitment) that the general population often lacks.
- *The way they spend their darkest hour* (learning in a classroom) is crucial for transforming potential.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Code-switching:** The ability for students to adapt their language and communication style to fit the requirements of a "largely middle-class setting" while still honoring their original language.
- **Recidivism:** The rate at which formerly incarcerated individuals return to prison.
- **Abstract thinking:** The ability to mentally visualize one's potential future self (e.g., planning for a job, car, or living situation).
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Programmatic Intervention:** Offering professional technical degrees to men in prison, exemplified by Walla Walla Community College at Coyote Ridge.
- **Learning Name Strategies:** Learning and using students' first names to signal recognition, validate existence, and improve accountability.
- **Group Project Learning:** Placing offenders in collaborative projects to foster "unity" in a previously segregated environment.
- **Presentation Requirement:** Insisting that presenters teach back concepts without reading from notes, requiring whole-room engagement (songs, skits, etc.).
- **Building Abstract Thinking:** Implementing assignments asking students to project their future lives ("Where are you going to live? What kind of car are you going to drive?").
## Timeline & Sequence
- **2005:** The State of Washington began offering professional technical degrees to men in prison.
- **Post-2005:** The program at Coyote Ridge showed positive results, leading to inquiries in other states.
- **Three Years Post-Release (North Carolina study):** Comparison of two groups tracked for three years:
- Non-students: **40%** recidivism rate.
- Students (with Associate's or Bachelor's): **5%** recidivism rate.
## Named Entities
- **Walla Walla Community College** — college that led the way in providing degrees to incarcerated men.
- **Coyote Ridge Corrections Center** — location in Snellville, Washington, where the initial successful program was established.
- **Doris Buffett** — philanthropist (sister of Warren Buffett) who funded the Coyote Ridge program.
- **North Carolina** — state where a comparative recidivism study was conducted.
## Numbers & Data
- Initial program funding secured: **$140,000** for a two-year project.
- Graduates from the program since 2005: **92**.
- Cohort size reviewed for recidivism: **12** people (out of 92 graduates).
- Number of the 12 who never returned to penal/correctional relationship: **6**.
- Number of the 12 who continued education (Bachelor's or Master's): **6**.
- Number of the 12 who are employed: **5**.
- Number of the 12 who are "off the grid": **1**.
- Financial saving for North Carolina: **$700** per year per inmate by investing in education.
## Examples & Cases
- **The initial success:** Inmate writing a letter to Doris Buffett detailing the positive cultural change happening in the prison through education.
- **The low recidivism cohort:** The 12 individuals from the Walla Walla program who showed near-zero return rates.
- **The comparison in NC:** The stark contrast in recidivism rates between incarcerated students versus non-students.
- **The asset argument:** Offenders' ability to read nonverbal cues when they've been in a long-term "power struggle."
- **The poem:** A poem received from an offender to the faculty at Coyote Ridge, titled "You saved us."
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The speaker acknowledges that in the field, "there are many people that know a lot more about this than me."
- The speaker cautions that the language used in the poem to describe the faculty, "under an illuminated sky," is "our meager attempt to explain the unexplainable."
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- Community buy-in is critical to improving the view of offenders from punishment to contribution.
- Educators must implement strategies focusing on individual recognition (learning names), collaborative learning, and building abstract self-conception.
- The public and hiring community must change its inherent bias by recognizing the tangible assets inherent in formerly incarcerated individuals.
## Implications & Consequences
- The success model implies that targeted, sustained educational investment drastically shifts social outcomes, turning a perceived liability into a contributing citizen.
- The cultural shift must move beyond mere job placement to fostering genuine "citizenship" and contribution.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"we've been waiting a long time for this clearinghouse of great ideas haven't we"*
- *"i'm going to talk to you today about what i think is probably our most malign group of people"*
- *"we are changing the culture of this prison the way that people interact with one another through this process"*
- *"zero recidivism rate now"*
- *"those that were not students had a 40 recidivism rate"*
- *"those who did have an associates or bachelor's degree while they were incarcerated they had a 5 recidivism rate"*
- *"i'm calling you out if you're a college instructor you went through a master's degree you went through a doctoral program and i'm telling you to employ those kinds of strategies to learn the names of your students"*
- *"when you learn their first name you're saying i see you i know you're there i care"*
- *"they have actually have the ability to start seeing themselves where they want to be"*
- *"they have assets and advantages that our general population does not have"*
- *"you're the firefighter that runs into the burning building"*
- *"You saved us"*