Gilligan, James. 1998. "Reflections From a Life Behind Bars: Build Colleges, Not Prisons." Chronicle of Higher Education (16 October): pp. B 7 and B 9. B9: Gilligan was the former head of the prison mental-health service in Massachusetts. He found that the most successful program for preventing recidivism. was the one that allowed inmates to receive a college degree while in prison. Several hundred prisoners in Massachusetts had completed at least a bachelor's degree while in prison over a 5 year period, and not one of them had been returned to prison for a new crime. "Immediately after I announced this finding in a public lecture at Harvard, and it made its way into the newspapers, our new governor, William Weld. who had not previously been aware that prison inmates could take college courses, gave a press conference on television in which he declared that Massachusetts should rescind that "privilege," or else the poor would start committing crimes in order to be sent to prison so they could get a free college education." And Weld is not even part of the far right! -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
