COEP-WiderNet

06/06/2018

This tour through mental health care in one of the US's largest prison through the eyes of a journalist who is eligible for parole in 2029.

'This Place Is Crazy'

Our mental-health-care system is broken. Ten of every eleven psychiatric patients housed by the government are incarcerated. Here’s what this crisis looks like from the inside—a series of lost lives and a few rare victories—as reported by a prisoner-journalist.

By John J. Lennon
Jun 5, 2018

Our mental-health-care system is broken. Ten of every eleven psychiatric patients housed by the government are incarcerated. Here’s what this crisis looks like from the inside—a series of lost lives and a few rare victories—as reported by a prisoner-journalist.

06/04/2018

Writer Andrea Cantora is an assistant professor in the University of Baltimore’s School of Criminal Justice and director of UB’s Second Chance Pell program.

Maryland would be smart to provide greater support to existing program that educate prison inmates.

05/29/2018

Check out ✅ what's new in COEP for the special promotion.

05/29/2018

Corrections-learners who already have digital skills for using the Internet need to keep those skills sharp; those who do not must acquire them. Either way, using their time upping their information-use skills will smooth reentry and reduce recidivism.

COEP's learning platform is Internet-like but is not connected. Using a browser to navigate over 35 million indexed secure educational resources, COEP looks and feels like the Internet.

The server underlying COEP, eGranary Digital Library, features many cool subjects to serve the wide variety of needs in corrections-learners - all indexed, clickable, and searchable through this browser.

COEP keeps people involved using information for their own good.

05/16/2018

California's economy has surged to #6 in the world! As of mid-2016, California was larger than France, India, and Italy, and followed only US, China, Japan, Germany, and UK.

So when it proclaims May as Mental Health Month, we can cheer that recognition and awareness will come to a state near us soon.

Join California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in spreading awareness about the importance of mental health.

Have you or someone you know been affected by mental health challenges? Show them support by lending an ear when they need it or reach out to someone that you haven’t heard from in a while. These little actions can speak volumes. Pledge to help reduce stigma by visiting EachMindMatters.org!

04/18/2018

Hats off to WiderNet's Cliff Missen for sharing his experiences and thoughts about NC prison libraries! 🧢🎩👒🎓👑

Of prison book clubs: “Inmates show up for a meeting with a book from the 1800’s, and these people are crying,” Missen said. “Because for the first time, they feel like they’re inside somebody else’s skin, and they can see where they’re coming from.

A RAND Review 2016 study found inmates who participated in any form of correctional education were up to 43 % less likely to return to prison. Missen credited literature’s ability to instill inmates with empathy linking reading and reduced recidivism rates.( https://www.rand.org/blog/rand-review/2016/01/course-correction-the-case-for-correctional-education.html )

Educating librarians is Missen's duty as clinical associate professor at , where he leads WiderNet's research and development component WiderNetUNC

http://www.wral.com/banned-books-lack-of-librarians-what-it-s-like-to-read-in-a-nc-prison/17493049/

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety's "Disapproved Publications Report" includes nearly 500 titles deemed p**nographic, violent or otherwise inappropriate for prisoners.

04/11/2018

15 AMAZING EFFECTS OF PRISON LIBRARIES

According to his blog The Graveyard Shift, Lee Loflund "is a veteran police investigator who began his law-enforcement career working as an officer in Virginia’s prison system. He later became a sheriff’s deputy, a patrol officer, and finally, he achieved the highly-prized gold shield of detective. Along the way, he gained a breadth of experience that’s unusual to find in the career of a single officer."

His hard work writing every day for 10 years has landed his blog in the Top 20 of Police Blogs, and he brilliantly founded Writer's Police Academy held each year to offer "an exciting and heart-pounding interactive and educational hands-on experience for writers to enhance their understanding of all aspects of law enforcement, firefighting, EMS, and forensics."

Can't wait to tell him about how COEP provides an offline library of libraries education platform for corrections organizations.

Prisons have long been at the center of much social, political, and even philosophical debate. What rights prisoners should have, what works to rehabilitate them, and how much taxpayer money should go into supporting prisons have been some of the key issues in both recent years and throughout histor...

04/09/2018

"Libraries Lead" is 2018's theme for National Library Week April 8 - 14. It's the 60th anniversary of the event that began in the US in 1958.

In the corrections environment, libraries lead to many good outcomes.

03/21/2018

Entry and release.

Heroin(e) and Knife Skills.

"This year, two Academy Award-nominated short subject documentary films detail two of the most important moments in a person’s involvement in the criminal justice system: entry and release."

Vera Institute of Justice 's Jack Duran discusses two documentaries about people involved with justice and corrections.

Neither won, but with 2/5 of the nominees covering this topic the urgency is clear.

“Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405,” Frank Stiefel (WINNER)
“Heroin(e),” Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Kerrin Sheldon
“Edith+Eddie,” Laura Checkoway, Thomas Lee Wright
“Knife Skills,” Thomas Lennon
“Traffic Stop,” Kate Davis, David Heilbroner

https://www.vera.org/blog/two-oscar-nominated-films-show-the-need-for-compassionate-reentry-and-diversion-programs
http://heroinethefilm.com/
http://knifeskillsthemovie.com/

03/09/2018

If incarcerated people were able to sit in classrooms, it would be a boon to prisoners across the country, a vast majority of whom do not have high school diplomas.

"And it could help shrink our prison population. While racial disparities in arrests and convictions are alarming, education level is a far stronger predictor of future incarceration than race."

"The idea of expanding educational opportunities to prisoners as a way to reduce recidivism and government spending has again gained momentum. That’s partly because of a study published in 2013 by the right-leaning RAND Corporation showing that inmates who took classes had a 43 percent lower likelihood of recidivism and a 13 percent higher likelihood of getting a job after leaving prison."

Imagine if prisoners sat in classrooms learning about climate science or poetry — just like college students. Or even with them.

03/08/2018

Happy International Women's Day to all in the prison education industry.

International Women's Day, celebrated each year on March 8, is a day honouring the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women around the world. To help you honour the wonderful women in your life, we've compiled a list of inspiring and empowering quotes by women and for women. Ha...

03/07/2018

"Arthur Bembury, who is formerly incarcerated and now serves as the executive director of Partakers, an organization that provides mentorship to incarcerated men and women participating in the Boston University Prison Program, echoed McDonough’s belief that those serving life sentences shouldn’t be left out of the conversation around carceral education.

“A lot of people ask why do we accept lifers into our program, if they’re not getting out? Why are we putting our resources behind somebody that doesn’t have a rap date?” he said. “One is: It instills a culture of dignity. And two: Lifers are a force within the prison system where they mentor other people.”"

Education, whether inside or outside of a prison, creates its value in ways that aren’t always simple to measure.