I am writing in response to the article “NY State Bar Association to Focus on Why Parolees End Up Back Behind Bars.” As a newly retired teacher with over 26 years of experience in the Kingston City School District, my last two years were spent teaching humanities in the HSE program offered to minors through the school district at the Ulster County Jail. My experiences there were perhaps the most rewarding of my career.

This June the district cut our hours there, as well as eliminating administration of the TASC [Test Assessing Secondary Completion] exam to our inmates in January. Though the district was the Ulster County TASC testing center until that time, it chose not to renew the site application. Ulster BOCES then applied and is administering the exam to test-takers on the “outside.” As of June, we were told no one from BOCES would be testing our inmates.

To me, the test and the equivalency diploma received by our inmates are key to parolee reform. Furthermore, adult education was eliminated before I even began teaching there. This too was a concern as numerous adult inmates frequently asked me if they could come to class or sit for the exam when offered, which I had to deny, primarily because of the paperwork involved as well as cuts in funding. To me, this is a crime in itself.

I have seen firsthand the change in the demeanor of these inmates who successfully pass their tests and receive diplomas. My first successful graduate there entered the program as a very angry young man, but I could tell in time he was more than capable with the thoughtful questions he asked in class. He enjoyed working independently but did not hesitate to ask for help. When we received the results of the exam, I remember well his smile as I shared the news of his success. It was a complete reversal of his attitude; his self-confidence and pride in his work so apparent it brought me to tears.

Another inmate, a young man who was a rascal, to say the least, passed his test last June and is now participating in the Bard Prison Initiative. He wrote to us upon receiving the news thanking us for our help and insisted, “see Miss, I WAS listening!”

A female student who was released this fall is pursuing her college degree at the local community college. Others too, who I have not heard from or about, have not returned to jail and I check the local news daily. I am profoundly proud I had a hand in their moving forward, not back.

When I left this June, we had at least a half dozen young people ready to take the exam, but we could not offer it. I promised them I would do everything I could to get it back not only for them but for the adults as well. I wrote to our sheriff who clearly supports inmate education but is stymied by the process and funding as well.

For those going to prison, there are education programs offering both high school equivalency diplomas as well as college credit. This is awesome. Still,  those whose sentences are shorter will leave our local jail without having had a chance to prove to themselves, their families and society that they “made good” out of a bad situation, without seeing finally that education is well worth pursuing and leaving with opportunities they did not have prior to incarceration.

I hope reforms made by the task force will support inmate education and high school equivalency exams on the “inside.” It boggles my mind that we complain about crime, about recidivism, and banter non-stop in politics about the importance of education, but yet this program, this very significant program is losing support. I am pleased to learn the NYS Bar Association is taking action.

Thank you on behalf of my kids.

Deborah Izzo is a retired Kingston City school teacher who was assigned to the Ulster County Jail.