by Kelby Williams
Let us welcome House Bill No. OSU-525, “Education for Inmates” by Chelsey Garner and Kevin Kennedy to the floor tomorrow. This bill presents the idea to educate prisoners so that these incarcerated individuals have the opportunity to earn credits towards a degree through online courses. The point of this bill is to educate, and it is obvious that a more informed society is a better society. However, the funding to provide materials to these prisoners is acquired from current state Alcohol Beverage Tax. Why should the alcohol-drinkers be those who pay for an imprisoned person’s education?
Representative Kennedy has respectful reasoning for the writing of this bill. He explained that as we continually boot prisoners’ rights, we are pushing them further away from ever improving themselves and society as a whole. Instead of punitive punishment, we should focus on correcting the wrong doers.
“Upon completing their sentence, most inmates re-enter society no more skilled than when they entered the correctional facility.”—Correction Education Data Guidebook. This quote from the U.S. Department of Education reinforces the idea that a more informed society is a better society. It agrees with the over all idealizations of this concept that formed this bill as well.
Whether we are ready or not, when a prisoner’s sentence is fully served, he is set free. So the question is would the general public rather a man of previous punishment and more ignorance be better? Or would an educated individual, who has been bettering himself for the last two years, be a better man to reenter society?
Stephen J. Steurer, Ph.D. and Linda G. Smith, PH.D. wrote an article called Education Reduces Crime. In this article, Steurer states, “society can no longer afford to ignore ways to reduce crime
and lower over-burdening costs resulting from high incarceration rates.” Personally, I believe that once you commit such a crime to be imprisoned, you have lost the individual right to education—especially free education. However, I do agree with the two Ph.D holders previously mentioned because educating these prisoners would help society as a whole in the long run.
A more educated society is a better society, and House Bill OSU-525 deserves to be passed so that it can implement this great concept. So I urge the House of Representatives to vote yes tomorrow, and help implement a better, more educated society.