Rio Salado College began its Incarcerated Reentry Education programs (IRE) in 1983, offering incarcerated students a chance at developing skills and knowledge through distance learning and in-person classes that will prepare them to re-enter the workforce. Rio Salado’s IRE program is preparing to expand with the launch of an online program at Perryville. This marks the first time in the college’s history that IRE classes will be offered online.
"Our students who are incarcerated are so smart, so capable, and so competent,” Rio Salado College President Kate Smith. “By offering classes in the prison, we're giving access and opportunity and creating socioeconomic mobility pathways for students who don't have that opportunity otherwise. This is the fabric of who we are as a college – creating pathways for students and meeting them where they are, no matter where they are.”
A recent Arizona Department of Corrections video shared in-depth stories about graduates from the Perryville program, including students who were recognized by Smith during a ceremony for receiving their associate degrees. Perryville has offered career training programs on-site since the 1980s. Current offerings include plumbing, automotive, small business start-up, construction, electrical work, computer technology, quality customer service, and a Certificate of Completion program in Workforce Development and Community Re-Entry. With the construction of an internet fiber optics network, which began in early spring, Perryville is set to begin offering online classes, providing IRE students with more opportunities for personal growth and academic success.
Carole Grijalva, a state program auditor who's worked with the Arizona Department of Economic Security and the Mesa Parole Regional Office, knows first-hand the life-changing possibilities IRE has to offer.
“I didn’t really have much of an education nor did I think I was capable enough to be able to learn,” Grijalva said. “However, the process was very fluid so it made the learning process a little bit easier. I have to honestly attribute a lot of the work that I do now to what I learned from participating in Rio Salado, because if it wasn’t for Rio I wouldn’t have known about how to navigate Microsoft Office or how to create a PowerPoint. I’m actually producing the fruits of what was instilled in me at Perryville.”
For students interested in taking IRE courses, there are some financial aid opportunities available to help. There’s an IRE Scholarship Matching Program that can help cover up to four classes a semester for eligible students. Perryville students can also apply for Second Chance Pell Grants, a program recently extended for Rio Salado students by the federal government. The name for the grant program is apt: initiatives like IRE programs give people a chance to get back on the right track.
“I know that people have their own thought process about those who are incarcerated, so that’s why I can truly appreciate and commend those who are willing to say, ‘they’re still people, they still need an education and they still need tools to be able to survive and thrive in the community,’” Grijalva said.
While there are challenges inherent in providing quality education to incarcerated students, the benefits of these programs to them and society as a whole are undeniable. Research consistently affirms that students who acquire new skills while incarcerated will reduce their risk of returning to prison in the future. According to reports from Rio Salado College’s Institutional Research, incarcerated students in Rio Salado College Career and Technical Education programs have a reduction in recidivism by 17.68%.
"The launch of our online education program at Perryville represents a significant step forward in providing incarcerated students with even greater access to knowledge and skills," said Lisa Preston, program director of the Incarcerated Re-entry program at Perryville. "Through our Incarcerated Reentry Education programs, we aim to instill not just job skills, but also empathy, respect, and hope for a brighter future."
The job skills learned through IRE programs can be invaluable for incarcerated students, but for graduates like Grijalva the consideration they received from instructors and IRE staff was crucial to their success in the program and beyond.
“When we already see ourselves from a limited perspective and then you have somebody that comes along and says you can do this, you’re more than that number, you’re more than that orange shirt that you’re wearing, you’re more than that label of being a felon,” Grijalva said. “I’m truly grateful to be able to see that I am capable and that I am worthy.”
Article by Austin Brietta