LETTER TO THE EDITOR

"The Violence of Prisoners"
by Donna Garner
March 27, 2001

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Carole
Keeton Rylander, has just
published her March 2001 issue of "Fiscal
Notes." In this issue Pam Wagner
has written a very interesting article in
which she has researched the
educational level of Texas prisoners. Here
are some fascinating quotes from
her article:

"...nearly 90,000 of the state's most
serious offenders do not have high
school diplomas. A third can't read at a 6th
grade level and are unable to
fill out a simple job application. About
half of the inmates in Texas'
State Jails, where low-level property
offenders are incarcerated for two
years or less, have no high school diploma."

"Yet inmates with a 9th-grade education are
20 percent less likely to return
to prison than inmates with a 4th-grade
education...Inmates who learned to
read in prison were 37 percent less likely
to return to prison than those
who did not."

Tony Fabelo, executive director of TCJPC
[Texas Criminal Justice Policy
Council] stated in the article, " '
...Recidivism is impacted the most when
teaching young offenders how to read. ' "

Recently I talked to a man who has been a
prison guard for over 24 years.
He said that for most prisoners, it takes at
least five months of
incarceration for them to be able to
communicate with any degree of
effectiveness. He believes that one of the
main reasons for their violence
and their epithet-filled phraseology is
their inability to express
themselves clearly. They cannot read,
write, or speak English at a
sophisticated enough level to be able to
advocate for themselves in society,
and this constant frustration leads many of
them into a world of violent
crime.

Lack of good communication skills can have
dire consequences. The public
schools must take very seriously their
mandate of teaching children how to
read, write, and speak correct English with
ease and fluency. Our country's
safety is dependent on it.

Donna Garner, Lead Writer of TAD
236 Cross Country Drive
Hewitt, TX 76643
(254) 666-2798
DGGARNER@SWBELL.NET
Free English/Language Arts/Reading Standards
Document (Pre-K -- Grade 12)
http://www.educationnews.org/new_home_for_th
e_texas_alternati.htm
Free Grammar Packets
http://www.readbygrade3.com/cvrltr.html

Donna Garner, dggarner@swbell.net,
3/27/01

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