ILLITERACY REINFORCES PRISONERS' CAPTIVITY

James Sterngold:

State prisons are crowded with inmates lacking a basic education -- Their dismal job prospects mean they're likely to land back behind bars.

Gregory Davenport, a congenial 46-year-old in prison blues, shared with a visitor to the big state penitentiary here a common inmate's lament -- he left behind two well-educated daughters with whom he could not correspond because he could not read.

But Davenport, serving time for a burglary conviction, is one of the lucky ones. He has finally made progress in his long struggle with illiteracy, a breakthrough he described while holding one of the more sought-after prizes in California's overburdened corrections system -- a classroom seat. He had to wait a year to get into a class in a cramped trailer at the prison in Norco, the California Rehabilitation Center, but now he gets six hours a day of instruction and help with a learning disorder.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 28, 2006 6:27 AM
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