Pubdate: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 Source: Miami Herald (FL) Copyright: 2003 The Miami Herald Contact: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262 Author: Noah Bierman PRISONS TAKE AX TO REHAB PROGRAMS State Calls Adding Beds Top Priority Even as Florida taxpayers spend more money than ever to lock up convicts, the state is making dramatic cuts in its most successful prison-rehabilitation programs. Gone are dozens of teachers, chaplains and rehabilitation counselors. To help save $20.8 million, the state slashed 339 positions. That means GED classes are reduced to bare-bones levels. Vocational classes, such as cabinet-making and computer repair, have been largely eliminated. And even some of the state's largest prisons, with more than 1,000 inmates, now have just one chaplain and no support staff. The prison system made the cuts because the overall state budget was extremely lean. But the state came up with $65 million for 4,000 new prison beds, which could ease crowding but further exacerbate the dearth of rehabilitation personnel. The man who ran the education programs for five years was so outraged by these changes he quit last month. Bill Woolley said the department has abandoned its mission to repair people and keep them from harming new victims. ''The new philosophy is that they are in the care, custody and control business,'' said Woolley, in a phone interview from his Tallahassee home. ``They're not in the business of necessarily educating them and putting them in jobs.'' The cuts come even as the department's own research showed inmates with job training and high school equivalency degrees are less likely to harm new victims and return to prison. Inmates who get spiritual help create fewer security problems. Critics such as Woolley contend that cutting these programs will inevitably lead to larger demand for prison beds. Though other states' budget crises have forced tough decisions on spending this year, few have followed Florida's path. California, for example, considered trimming 330 teachers this year before deciding the potential future costs of recidivism were too great. California is now reorganizing to promote its academic programs, while cutting back vocational programs. ''If you get an inmate a GED, they come back less,'' Woolley said. ``If you get them a vocational certificate, they come back even lesser, if you will. And if you get them a job, they don't come back at all.'' This year's cuts come on top of the 85 positions sliced from last year's education staff. Many of the surplus teachers were offered other jobs, including positions as corrections officers. Corrections spokesman Sterling Ivey says the priority is, and needs to remain, keeping prisoners locked up. ''We've got 77,000 inmates in the Florida prison system that we're required to supervise, feed and clothe seven days a week, and that costs money,'' Ivey said. The bulk of the department's 26,000 employees are corrections officers. About one in four of the 339 lost jobs came from the Tallahassee office. When it came time to trim further, there was little else the department could eliminate, Ivey said. Corrections officials, with Gov. Jeb Bush's backing, earlier this month persuaded the Legislature to pass an emergency $65 million spending bill to help build more beds and to shore up funding to cope with an unexpected surge in prison sentencing statewide. The justification: Without starting construction, the state would find itself having to release prisoners early to avoid crowding. BUSH DISAGREES Bush, an advocate of faith-based rehabilitation programs, told The Herald he disagreed with the cuts in education and chaplain services, but said the Legislature was largely responsible. He said he proposed cuts elsewhere, such as the juvenile-justice program. Although he added money for beds, he said he couldn't reopen the entire corrections budget. 'I don't think it's appropriate once a budget is complete to say, `Well, it's just a work in progress, and we'll keep making adjustments,' '' Bush said. The Rev. Obed Millan knows that well. He lost his only secretary last month, a victim of the cuts. FOR SOME, A LAST HOPE Few prison jobs conjure more in the imagination than chaplains, often depicted as the fallen's last hope for redemption. Millan also coordinates hundreds of volunteers, keeping alive programs to prevent domestic violence or curb drinking. His secretary coordinated those volunteers. Each prison still has at least one chaplain. But 13 were let go, as were most secretaries who coordinate volunteers. ''I know I have no time to do all the paper work, so I need to choose what is the most urgent,'' Millan said. Volunteers help but cannot replace staff, he said. ''There are some gaps that cannot be filled at all,'' Millan said. ``They require a responsible and full-time staff.'' Inmates representing 13 religious denominations, including Catholics, Pentecostals, Muslims and Buddhists, have sought help and counseling from Millan. These links, like educational links, can help people resettle when they leave prison. Maria and Fernando Deheza see it every day. The couple volunteers, teaching life-skills classes at the Dade Correctional Institution in Florida City and the Broward prison for women in Pembroke Pines. One of the main reasons prisoners are unable to adjust when they leave prison is a lack of self-esteem, some of which comes from a lack of job skills, Fernando Deheza said. ''Many doors are going to be slammed on them because of the stereotype, the stigma,'' Deheza said. Last year, the corrections department measured behavior of inmates who attend chaplain activities. It found those who participate in at least 10 a month receive, on average, only a third as many disciplinary reports as the rest of the prison population. The same report said prisons with more chaplains per inmate have higher participation. Many of the state's prisons have more than 1,000 inmates but only a single chaplain. COST EFFECTIVE ''Religious programming not only is an essential element to control inmate idleness, it is a cost-effective means of providing a safer, more manageable environment,'' the report concluded. The prison system also saves money with its educational programs. A 2001 report found inmates who get a GED are 8.7 percent less likely to reoffend. Inmates who get vocational certificates are 14.6 percent less likely. The report concluded that for every 2,000 inmates who earned a GED, Florida taxpayers save $1.9 million a year by keeping them out of prison. The savings was $3.2 million for vocational program graduates. Ivey said prisons will not abandon their educational programs. GED classes, for example, will continue. But they will offer fewer sections. But Woolley points to the state class-size amendment, passed by voters who believe school children can't learn with more than 25 students in a class. ''Can you imagine having 45 or 50 inmates in a class?'' he asked. Herald staff writers Joni James and Tim Henderson contributed to this report - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens