Other than his child, the student can’t think of much of anything he’s contributed. “I haven’t left a blemish on society,” the student responded, “except prison time.”
Mr. Horton, an instructor with STRIVE International, was teaching class in a rarely used corner of the George Motchan Detention Center on Rikers Island, where the student is an inmate. The lesson—part education, part cognitive behavioral therapy—is part of a multi-pronged program dubbed the Next Steps program developed by STRIVE, the City University of New York, the Public Library, and the Department of Correction.
“Write me an obituary,” Mr. Horton instructed his class, “that tells me the person that you really wanted to be.”
Introspective lessons like this one are one way the Department of Correction is trying to stem the tide of surging violence in the city’s jails on Rikers Island, as part of a 14-point plan unveiled by Commissioner Joseph Ponte earlier this year. The Observer was given an exclusive tour of the new program last week.
In its 14-point plan to reduce violence, the department calls programs like this one “idleness reduction.” That’s a fancy way of saying: giving inmates something to do.
“It basically takes them and it puts them in a productive environment for a big part of the day,” Deputy Commissioner James Walsh told the Observer. “If they’re busy in a classroom productively engaged with an instructor, obviously they’re not sitting around getting into the trouble that inmates sometimes get into.”
The city is betting a considerable sum on that hypothesis—Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration is providing new funding to the tune of $11.7 million in fiscal year 2016, $16.9 million in fiscal 2017, and $16.3 million in fiscal 2018 for “idleness reduction.” With that money, the department hopes to be providing a minimum of five hours of programming each day to adult inmates by March 2016.
During the class last week, Mr. Horton managed to keep class mostly on-track, even with the unusual distraction of a reporter and a photographer dropping in during lessons. One man stood up and offered to model for a photo, a few others cracked jokes about being watched—if not for the students being older (and sporting many visible tattoos) it might have been any slightly rowdy high school classroom. In writing the obituary for their ideal selves, they were asked to think about what they’d contributed—in terms of children, loved ones, education—essentially, outlining goals for a life better lived.
There’s more to the classes, Mr. Walsh said, than just keeping the inmates busy and getting them out of their housing areas—which the program currently does for two-and-a-half hours each week day. The lessons focus on preparing inmates for their futures after jail or prison. Lessons focus on computer literacy, cognitive behavioral therapy, goal-setting, job-readiness, and library services.