PSU initiative brings more education programs to Centre County inmates

A Penn State instructor is doing his part to help bring more education programs to inmates in Centre County.

About two years ago, Efrain Marimon established the Restorative Justice Initiative to implement education programs at local correctional facilities.

With support from Penn State’s College of Education and Rock Ethics Institute, these programs were developed at Centre County Correctional Facility and Benner state prison to help inmates enhance their education and have a smoother transition back into society.

“To my knowledge, at least in Centre County, there’s no formal relationship or established program between the university and correctional facilities,” Marimon said. “The idea was to really establish that relationship between Penn State to provide experiential opportunities for students, but also really provide much needed services at correctional facilities.”

Marimon said an important step in creating the programs was gathering information on what the existing education programs were like, both locally and at the state level.

“I wanted to be very careful before we walked in and said, ‘This is what needs to happen,’ ” Marimon said. “I don’t know that.”

Programs offered through RJI are entrepreneurship, legal literacy and creative writing classes, which Marimon said help support the already developed correctional program PRIDE — Personal Responsibility, Intensive Drug/Alcohol Education.

PRIDE is an in-house, community-based substance abuse program for inmates that provides a structural environment for those willing to take responsibility for their actions, according to information from the Centre County Correctional Facility.

“We approach the program differently because their stay is a lot less than in prison, but it’s meeting the needs of the jail to support the re-entry into society component,” Marimon said.

Timed served in a county facility generally doesn’t exceed a year to 18 months.

Classes through RJI are facilitated by Penn State faculty and graduate students weekly during sessions in the fall and spring.

Marimon said it’s run similarly to theprograms at Benner state prison that were piloted in the spring, and include classes on ethics and philosophy and art education.

Prison Superintendent Tammy Ferguson said the state Department of Corrections, which oversees Benner state prison, is focused on creating opportunity for inmates.

Programs include treatment programming; helping to insure inmates have valid forms of identification upon release; academic and vocational opportunities to learn trades or skills; and more.

Each correctional facility in the commonwealth, Ferguson said, also has a transitional housing unit or re-entry service office to assist inmates in the transition back to their communities.

“Programs such as these are in high demand and generate considerable requests for participation,” Ferguson said in a statement. “It is our hope that we can continue to offer these types of services to our inmate population. With continued commitment from organizations like Penn State University, Centre Peace and the Pennsylvania Prison Society, and the ongoing cooperation of our staff and inmate community, we are just beginning to explore the opportunities that can be provided with collective partnerships like those we are forging.”

Marimon said there are about 10 to 15 incarcerated students in the art class, and about 20 in the ethics and philosophy class. There are similar size enrollment numbers in the programs at Centre County Correctional Facility, he added.

“Our intent is to provide a program that provides services and works with the correctional facilities on identifying those,” Marimon said. “Once we’ve identified the programming aspect, I think then we can talk about what a proper research agenda could be with the institutes we work with.”

This story was originally published July 27, 2017 at 6:55 PM with the headline "PSU initiative brings more education programs to Centre County inmates."