Oakhill Prison Humanities Project
OPHP is a collective of volunteers who provide educational programming to individuals incarcerated at Oakhill Correctional Institution, a minimum-security men’s prison in Oregon, Wisconsin. Our courses benefit the participants, the instructors, and the greater WI community. Class discussions and assignments improve literacy skills that encourage the successful reentry of inmates into the work force upon release. The prison classroom setting challenges instructors to strengthen and diversify their teaching skills. Because educational programs have been shown to reduce rates of recidivism, investments in prison education programming such as OPHP may contribute to a reduction in state spending on incarceration.
Outcomes
Privacy regulations forbid us to report specific information about OCI inmates. However, sociological studies have shown that individuals who participate in educational programming during incarceration are less likely to engage in violent behavior; more likely to find/retain employment, less likely to commit crimes, and less likely to have parole revoked release. Their salary rates are on average higher than those who do not participate in educational programming. Prisoners who did not participate in any type of educational programming, according to a study from 2012, were 3.7 times more likely to be repeatedly incarcerated compared to prisoners did participate. Potential benefits of reduced recidivism to state budgets are in the millions.
Focus Areas
Project Leader
Naomi Olson
Coordinator, Oakhill Prison Humanities Project
- Department/Unit
- Slavic Languages and Literatures
- School or College
- College of Letters & Science