Thomas Pearson admits it. He made a mistake and now he's serving time for it. Yet as he's serving time, he's turning his life around. And the Indiana University School of Continuing Studies (SCS) is helping him do it.
Pearson is an inmate at Westville Correctional Facility in Westville, Indiana. He's packed a lot of learning into the last two years. In May 2004 - after taking courses on site at Westville - he graduated from Purdue University with an associate degree in business. Then, in August 2004 - thanks to undergraduate distance education courses from the SCS Independent Study Program - he graduated from Indiana University with an Associate of Arts in General Studies (A.A.G.S.).
In earning his general studies degree, Pearson joined the ranks of dozens of inmates throughout the United States who have earned an IU degree while incarcerated. In Indiana alone, the School of Continuing Studies serves inmates at 11 correctional facilities.
"The School of Continuing Studies is proud of the educational opportunities it provides to inmates," says SCS interim dean Judy Wertheim. "We believe education is essential to helping inmates reintegrate into society."
The Westville Correctional Facility is located 10 miles south of Michigan City. With 2,800 beds, the all-male prison is the largest correctional facility in the state of Indiana, says Westville assistant superintendent William Wilson. It has been making IU courses available to inmates for the past six years and now has 32 inmates taking SCS undergraduate courses and seven inmates taking SCS high school courses.
In addition, Westville offers on-site courses from Purdue, 10 vocational programs, a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) program, and an English as a Second Language (ESL) program. In short, says Wilson, "Westville has a complete academic program. It has 30 teachers, as well as a fully functional library with a full-time librarian."
Wilson believes that educating inmates is essential. "From a management perspective," he says, "education keeps offenders occupied with meaningful things to do. More important, it allows offenders to begin a process of reintegration into society. It builds their confidence so that they feel like they are up to challenges and are accepted by society. It reduces recidivism."
Westville inmate Dale M. Hodges reinforces Wilson 's assertions. Like Pearson, he earned an associate degree in business from Purdue and his A.A.G.S. from Indiana University. "Taking courses was one of the most challenging things I've ever tried," he says. "Once it was complete, I had one of the greatest feelings of achievement ever! Thank you, IU!"
Taking courses was also a challenge for Pearson, who credits Nancy Spiegla, his advisor at Westville, for much of his success. "She has always been there to offer a word of encouragement," says Pearson. "She says, 'Thomas, don't give up, hang in there, you can do it.' Nancy Spiegla is the reason I have not given up. I appreciate her hard work and dedication."
Pearson's IU courses have affected him in many ways. "The first, and probably most important," he says, "is ridding myself of the vast amounts of ignorance that I possess. The more I learn, the wider my eyes are opened to what I don't know or understand. The second way the courses have affected me is that now I possess the ability to teach the people who are closest to me: my mother, father, and family. The last way is that I can start an educational cycle within my family and make education a tradition."
Both Hodges and Pearson will continue their education in spring 2005. Hodges plans to attend IUPUI, where he'll major in business. Pearson has been accepted into the School of Technology at Purdue, where he'll major in construction technology. "My degrees," he says, "have been a huge stepping stone for my future education and, ultimately, a professional career."
Hodges and Pearson are superb examples of the power that education has to transform people's lives, believes Wilson, himself a proud graduate of the General Studies Degree Program. "Some offenders are people who have just made mistakes," he says. "Education provides them with the opportunity to change their lives so they don't continue to make the same mistakes. "
For more information about SCS educational opportunities, visit the Web at http://scs.indiana.edu, call 800-334-1011, or send e-mail to scs@indiana.edu.
