@LTT1 I'm in Georgia with about the same incarceration rate as Texas and California. We have tons in prison, drugs mainly. We can purchase them but are limited to traditional vendors since it will be in our department's budget. Thanks anyway. We are looking for one per class, not purchasing dictionaries for each inmate. Their families can buy them one and send it in as part of their personal property. Most of them are of limited means, but the inmates choose to spend their money of ramen noodles and snacks versus books, so they choose to take ours. We want them to get into school so they can learn, but motivating them is difficult. When I came to this camp, they had 1 GED in a year. My first year we earned 24 and now up to 32 from 0 with the new fiscal year that started July 1. The teachers didn't teach a curriculum but put the inmate with a book and said have at it. I brought the curriculum up, and what do you know, teaching the curriculum creates progress. I'm also one of the youngest at 36. The other two teachers are 68 and 80. They started when it was basically a babysitting program, but now the governor has changed that, and so have I. Our other teacher teaches literacy and is 28, so he does try with modern approaches and not just his way or no way, like our other two, but we are just 2 cogs. We are creating a bit of competition by basically showing them up, plus the pressure is on to teach or go home! With prayer, we can change that. Recently the monies the inmates and their families spend on commissary sales and vending machines during visitation went to purchase GOAL (Georgia Offender Learning Devices) tablets and they can get e-books. So many get their books for 99 cents (thank God, I was afraid it would be 10 bucks or more), plus the money they spend goes back into the program. There are also educational apps avaliable, Khan Academy and one called Lantern for the teachers to post work and lessons to, but no dictionary yet. We have petitioned but there are security elements since they don't have internet access, only limited access to the kiosk's app store through the company called JPay. We have to get permissions and things from the app creator and make sure the security of the app is at a certain level with no in app purchases and links and things. It takes time to create change, but we are doing it one at a time. Right now our facility is in the top 5 in GEDs earned this fiscal year. Our annual goal is 40. We are trying to blow that out of the water with our test this month. My class has a waiting list, as I have 12 students max, security reasons, and I teach in the lockdown unit (where the supermax inmates are). I had one graduate there last month, the first ever, and two more who plan to complete their exam this February. We have class 2 hours a week....that is all. They really have to work their behinds off to earn it from there due to the limited class time, but we are doing it. One of the students goes home next summer, so we are trying to get his done before then as he has a better chance at employment than if he didn't. He does have issues being told what to do, but he is also learning about that.
Thanks for the offer, but we are limited by our security measures and vendors. We've had local libraries donate books, but that is about it. It just makes the ones we have even more valuable. The inmates check them out, then share. One of the punishments for fighting and other misbehavior is having your library privileges revoked for a time. It does work as books are one of their only real mental escapes. They learn to value them and become readers while they are in prison.
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