He’s been out of prison for eight months after serving a 7-year sentence for DWI, repeat offense with serious bodily injury, he said Friday in a telephone interview.
Rogers said he was a high school graduate when he went to jail at the age of 25, but was reading at a second-grade level.
He wasn’t required to enroll in the Community High School of Vermont while he was incarcerated, but he took advantage of the basic educational services offered him and then found his passion: welding. Rogers credits teacher Jerry Fortin with changing his life.
The Department of Corrections has proposed cuts to several prisons and community field sites now offered through the Community High School of Vermont. Rogers says he wishes the state would think twice about reducing the scope of the program.
The state should look to add more trade programs for inmates of all ages, he says.
“It’s a proven fact that most people who are incarcerated are under-educated,” Rogers said.
When people can’t find jobs, and are struggling, they often turn to drugs, Rogers says. With education and skills in hand, “You have more confidence about yourself, and you can get a good job,” he said.
Declining need
As part of the administration’s efforts to erase a $100 million budget gap, DOC has recommended the elimination of community sites that are part of the high school program and cutting back on the number of prisons served. Those cuts would save $1.7 million, Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito said.
Plans call for continuing to provide services at prisons in South Burlington, Newport, St. Albans and Springfield. They would be discontinued at correctional centers in Rutland, St. Johnsbury and Windsor. The proposed cuts would reduce staff from 51 to 27 positions.
Pallito said a decline in the number of younger prisoners incarcerated in Vermont justify the cuts.
He said in order to meet the budget reductions, DOC had to find an area that would produce the least risk, find the most savings and reflect changing populations. He told the Senate Education Committee this week that the decision was not easy and is not a reflection of program’s quality or importance. Pallito has said the only other alternative is cutting the sex offender program.
Prison educators will help make sure inmates who wish to continue programs are linked with community education programs from alternative high school settings to distance learning and adult basic education programs, Deputy Commissioner Lisa Menard testified.
Pallito and Menard also shared long-term incarcerated population trends that show declines in youth and young adults in the state’s corrections system. The number has dropped from 1,956 in 2004 to 716 in 2014.
In 2007, 148 diplomas were awarded through the Community High School of Vermont compared to 41 in 2014. Trade and industry certificates awarded have also gone down, from a high of 467 in Fiscal Year 2012 to 333 last year, statewide figures show.
Pallito said DOC did not have data to show a reduced recidivism rate for former inmates who receive education services, but he said stable housing and employment are the two main ingredients for reducing repeat offenses once a person returns to the community.
Instructors concerned
Sarah Loveless, a teacher at the Community High School site in Barre who works with the Probation and Parole Office and with student inmates, said offenders need support when they get out.
“They are very vulnerable,” she said. “They have a lot of conditions that they have to meet for release, so keeping them on task with their living, learning and working plans really keeps them on track and away from re-incarceration,” she said. “It’s really essential for the continuity of service.”
Troy McAllister, the assistant director of corrections education, said the overall program for all ages of people in the corrections system focuses on “helping people become productive members of their community, and so to that end, our program is beyond just the high school diploma.”
William Storz, a teacher in the program, said nearly 750 individuals have been identified as in need of educational services, but they do not always find their way to the educators who are there ready and eager to help them.
Part of the problem is systemic – inmates 23 and younger who do not have their high school diplomas must take part; older inmates are not required to follow through on court recommendations that they continue their educations while incarcerated or when they get out, the educators said.
“Education and employment training is one of the most effective ways of actually reducing recidivism,” McAllister said.
Of the 749 individuals in the corrections system identified for education and employment training help, about 157 regularly are in classrooms taking advantage of the offerings of the corrections education system, they said.
“The way I look at it is do we rehabilitate offenders or not?” Harriman said. “When someone comes into the correctional system, they are assessed. Those needs need to be addressed, that is the policy of the DOC. Do we rehabilitate offenders or not?”
McAllister said that 309 Vermonters are incarcerated for every 100,000 people in the state.
“These are Vermont kids that did not succeed in our other schools, and we are here as a safety net for them,” Storz said. “It’s a responsibility that we have and I think Vermonters believe in that responsibility.”
