Monroe inmates become graduates

This graduation, like so many others, had its "Pomp and Circumstance," its massive bouquets of flowers and its nervous graduates in bright blue caps and gowns, playing with the tassels in their eyes.

But when the cake was finished and the proud families and friends made their way out of the windowless room, these graduates were escorted back to the cells where they would live out the rest of their sentences — from a few months to life without parole — in Monroe's Washington State Reformatory.

"While the past remains part of our lives, it doesn't have to be our future," concluded the speech of class valedictorian Daniel Grannell, 28, who received a technical certificate for computer training.

Grannell called his second-degree-assault conviction a case of "wrong place, wrong time, wrong crowd" and said his academic achievement in prison is a way to turn his life around and be a better role model for his 10-year-old son, Adam, who was in attendance.

"My main goal is to show him the importance of education. With me coming to prison, I don't want him to think, 'Oh, my dad just sits around.' I want to be a better example."

The ceremony Wednesday was one of three this week at the Monroe Correctional Complex, where Edmonds Community College offers basic adult education, GED courses and vocational training in computer technology. State Department of Corrections officials say the program and 14 others like it around the state are an essential element of reducing recidivism, which they say has been on the rise since the state Legislature cut back corrections education 10 years ago.

The 100-person audience gathered in what resembled a high-school cafeteria — but with one-way mirrors — to hear a half-dozen graduating inmates speak about the motivation, discipline and hope that their educations had given them since they first arrived in prison.

"At that point in my life, I thought I was here to do time, not do algebra," said GED recipient Roscoe Jordan, 21, who faces up to life behind bars after being convicted of assault, illegal arms possession and second-degree rape of a minor. Jordan emphasized the supportive instructors and positive daily habits that have helped him to put his past behind him, even if the state hasn't.

"When I think back to the days that I was gang-banging and selling dope, I'm surprised to think that could be me. There's so much distance between the person that entered this place and the man I am now," he said. "Now I am a graduate, and I am proud."

Capping off a list of acknowledgments, Jordan added, "Last but not least, thank you to the people of Washington for always believing in education and never giving up on us."

But Washington politics have not always been kind to inmate education, according to Mike Paris, educational-services administrator for the state Department of Corrections (DOC), citing legislation from Olympia such as House Bill 2010 in 1996 that "tied the hands" of educational programs in prisons. The Edmonds Community College program established at Monroe in 1979, for instance, is unable to grant associate degrees as it once could.

"For the last 10 years," Paris said, "the direction coming from the state Legislature has been sort of 'tough on crime' and 'lock 'em up.' "

Those policies — which again are changing — left many inmates unprepared to return to the community, according to Paris, and contributed to a rising five-year recidivism rate over the past decade, from 31 percent to 37 percent. The DOC projects that will climb to 41 percent for inmates released this year, but it says studies show that general education and vocational training are two of the most effective ways to cut down on repeat offenses by inmates — only one in five of whom enter prison with a high-school diploma.

Gathering data from more than 20 studies, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy suggested that general education and vocational training reduce recidivism by 7 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

Furthermore, the report concluded, the roughly $1,000 spent on average educating a prisoner per year saved victims and taxpayers more than 10 times that by cutting down on future costs from property damage, law enforcement, prison spending and other things. On average, it costs $36,836 a year to house an inmate at the Monroe complex.

With that long-term recidivism data, Paris said, state lawmakers have taken corrections education more seriously, approving $26 million, for instance, in additional resources for the DOC.

"The Legislature took that data and said, 'We're going to change directions.' It's not soft on crime, but it provides the tools that offenders need to re-enter the community," he said.

Brad Haynes: 425-745-7812 or bhaynes@seattletimes.com