Academic and Workforce Education at the Montana Women’s Prison and Passages Pre-Release Center

Pathways to Self Sufficiency

Who we are:

• Kim Gillan, Director• Cindy Bell, Coordinator• Shaun Hoover, Project Associate• Core instructors: Mary Baker,

Karen Henderson, Janice Munsell, Melanie Schwarz, Tami Haaland, Darryl Grove, Dennis Kern

How we are funded:

• Four grants from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Montana Women’s PrisonRequired Coursework

• Achieve Global Work Skills• Family Economics and Financial Education• Introduction to Math OR• Intermediate Math• Introduction to Writing• Skills for Success• Career Pathways• 124 hours total

Writing instructor Karen Henderson and Shannon Peltier

FEFE Instructor Janice Munsell and Tara Syverson

Math Instructor Mary Baker and class

Montana Women’s PrisonElective Coursework—Vocational Skills• Flagger Certification• Introduction to Carpentry• HAZMAT Certification• First Aid/CPR Certification• OSHA 10• Introduction to Blueprints• Concrete Laying

Warren Smeltzer and Jobyna Stump learning to shoot grade

Nicole Moore, Instructor Darryl Grove, and Jim Corson (Max Baucus’ office) Nicole’s model house

Warren Smeltzer, MT Laborer’s Training Program, and Jackie Hager, nervous bobcat operator

Montana Women’s PrisonElective Coursework—Academic Skills

Non-credit courses• Literature• Introduction to Philosophy• Creative Writing• Graphic Design• Small Business Planning• Ethics (upcoming)Credit–bearing courses• COMT 109 (Human Relations)• PSY 101 (Introduction to Psychology)• BU 101 (Introduction to Business) upcoming fall 2010

Psychology instructor Kameron Nelson and Terri Warren

Corby Skinner and Sue Hart attend graduation of Tami Haaland’s Creative Writing course

Tami Haaland, Nicole Moore, and Jane Lind

Montana Women’s PrisonStatistics

• Sixty students have participated

• Twenty two have graduated (completed 8-month program)

• Average 142 hours of training

• 18 conditionally enrolled at MSUB and completed credit-bearing courses (mostly with A’s and B’s).

• Twenty four have been released. Of these, only one has returned to prison.

• One successfully completed AY 09-10 at UM COT. Two have pending applications at MSUB, one at MSU GF

Other MWP Accomplishments• “Brick by Brick” published• “Whispering Concrete”

published• Basketball court

constructed at MWP by concrete students

• Projects in development: Integrating academic coursework into existing MWP therapies; “Education Every Day”;

Twila Johnke, May 2010 graduation, class speaker

Darlene Damm, November 2009 graduation, class speaker

Passages Pre-ReleaseCoursework

• Family Economics and Financial Education

• Construction• Customer Service• Math for the Workplace• GED Instruction• Fresh Start• Book Club• Makin’ it work• Job Coaching• Culinary Arts Program

coaching

Passages students learn sheetrock techniques at the COT demonstration house

Passages Pre-Release

Statistics• 194 students have

completed at least one course

• 33 have completed two courses

• Students average over 19 hours of training

Projects in Development• Culinary Arts Program

Pre-Apprenticeship • Joint class between

Passages Book Club and MSUB ASC 294 fall freshman seminar

Jobyna Stump really enjoying her cake

Billings Area Reentry Task Force(BARTF)

• Goal: to work collaboratively with community organizations to help incarcerated women successfully reenter the community

• Focus on housing, employment, and relationships/family

• 25-30 active members: DOC, Billings Police, Center for Children & Families, Salvation Army, Housing Authority, Family Services, YWCARiverstone, Second Chance Homes, Community Crisis Center

And in conclusion…

“ Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

-Robert Collier