Last year, there were 29,000 inmates released from Florida state prisons. We can expect 13,000 of those inmates to return for a felony conviction. Incarceration for repeat offenders will cost the Florida taxpayer over one billion dollars this year. The cost to house repeat offenders has averaged 50 percent of the Department of Corrections (DOC) budget for the last 15 years, a fact well known to every elected official.

Our elected officials have done nothing to effectively reduce recidivism in the last 15 years because it is not in their best interest. Being “tough on crime” may not win an election but being perceived as “soft on crime” can lose an election. The criminal justice industry means money and jobs, which translates into financial contributions and votes during elections.

The recidivism problem can be turned around in a way that gives new meaning to getting “tough on crime.” An intensive educational program that requires inmates to earn a high school diploma as well as the completion of a college course becomes the minimum conditions of release from prison. These requirements would be exclusive of any sentence associated with the conviction.

Let’s be clear, this is a High School Diploma and not a General Equivalency Diploma (GED). That means teachers, classrooms and FCATs.

This program represents a major paradigm shift within the prison system. No longer would prison be about doing time and developing an attitude. Rather, inmates would earn their freedom in a measurable way as a condition of release.

Whereas the support of the Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) is critical to any such program, there is no reason to expect it. A 50 percent decrease in recidivism translates into a 25 percent reduction in the demand for prison beds, which means a cut of over 6,000 jobs in DOC alone. The easiest mechanism to obtain the required support is to tie the supervisors’ (correction officers to the warden) employment and promotions to the educational success or failure of their cohorts.

The program is also a powerful management tool. Being withdrawn from the program for disciplinary reasons could mean an extension of time in prison.

Is it legal to keep an inmate in prison past their release date? If we accept the precedent established and codified by our legislature for sex offenders, then the answer is yes.

Our elected officials will argue that DOC already has a GED program in Florida prisons. They will further say that “Inmates who earn their GED are 8.7% less likely to recidivate than those who do not complete a program.”

A closer look reveals that the existing program is defective. Last year there were 81,000 inmates of whom 29,000 were eligible for the GED program but only 1,123 received GEDs. This means our 8.7 percent reduction in recidivism only applies to 1,123 inmates.

Left out is the 19,000 inmates who are at the Basic Literacy level (1.0-4.9 grades) and 28,000 inmates at the Functional Literacy level (5.0-8.9 grades) all of who are not eligible for GED education programs.

Education has been identified as the single largest deterrent to recidivism. In 1997, The Correctional Education Association conducted “The Three State Recidivism Study” for the United States Department of Education. The study showed that “simply attending school behind bars reduces the likelihood of reincarceration by 29%. Translated into savings, every dollar spent on education returned more than two dollars to the citizens in reduced prison costs.”

Florida Tax Watch took the research to the next step and computes the state’s return on “Academic” completers was $3.53 for every dollar spent. The question we need to ask our elected officials is: if this is true, why has inmate education been cut 36 percent from 2000 to 2004?

Think in terms of savings when the recidivism rate drops. Illinois, who has a recidivism rate 20 percent lower than Florida, found their postsecondary correctional education programs yielded a recidivism rate of 13.1%, in contrast to a control group’s rate of 37.5%, and the general prison population rate of 39.2%.

The Florida Community College system appears to be the ideal candidate to administer this program. They already have a presence in the prisons, as they train the correction officers. They also have experience with off campus programs and dealing with the failures of our public school system.

This scenario provides for a seamless transition from primary and secondary schooling to Community College programs. Upon release, inmates can transfer registration to a local community college and continue with their education on a full or part time basis.

The question of who should pay is simple: the state has failed to teach and the student has failed to learn, so, split the cost 50/50. Inmates without financial resources can pay the same as any college student pays: They obtain loans from the state. An additional guarantee is for inmates to remain on parole till the loan is paid. This gives the inmates a vested interest in their education. There are no free rides here.

While no cost figures are available for Florida, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections computes the price of one year of post secondary education at $1,500.

This is not about being soft on crime. It is about reducing crime and saving thousands of people from the pain and suffering associated with being victims of major felonies. Furthermore, this is about giving people the opportunity to obtain a meaningful life that otherwise would be wasted.