The purpose of this investigation was to obtain a broad view of the development
and structure of the program of college education conducted at the Oregon
State Penitentiary (OSP) in Salem, Oregon to arrive at a means to explicate program
effectiveness. This research problem encompassed the compilation and interpretation
of an historical chronicle, based upon the views of program participants, including
inmate-students, teachers, and administrators, directed at the history, development,
and structure of the program.
The specific research objectives of this investigation included the following:
1) Review of the existing literature describing schooling within prisons; 2) development
of a research protocol; and 3) utilization of the developed protocol to conduct
research on the development and structure of the college education program at OSP,
including:
a. a record of the overall effectiveness of the program and the degree to
which it has been accepted, based upon the attitudes and feelings of
past and present program participants, to include inmate-students,
teachers, administrators, and volunteers, and
b. a chronicle of the development and status of the college education
program as perceived within the community in which it has been
administered.
These research objectives were achieved by application of a triangular methodology
involving a review of appropriate literature, personal observations, and
interviews with past and present staff members as well as student-inmates in the OSP
college education programs. Thus it was concluded, subject to persistent communication
problems that would seem to be inevitable when the principles of "academic
freedom" are introduced into the closed and restrictive penitentiary environment, that
the college education program at OSP has been successful in the view of inmate-students,
education and prison staffs, and concerned institutional administrators. It
may be foreseen that, as teachers presently employed at OSP quit or retire, all academic
and vocational education at OSP, with the exception of baccalaureate programs,
will in the future be contracted through existing community college programs.
With the continued development of education programs within state penal
institutions, communicative research should continue apace to minimize potential
conflicts between the programs for the different types of programs offered. / Graduation date: 1993
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35953 |
| Date | 18 August 1992 |
| Creators | Howard, Grace |
| Contributors | McBride, Marjorie G. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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