Posted on Jul 1, 1997

Catherine Johnson '82

Catherine Johnson '82 punches in the security code that releases the series of doors as if it is second nature and, like any teacher, banters with some of her students in the hallway.

But when she asks about their sentences, she's not talking about grammar; instead, she's asking about the status of their legal cases.

Johnson is the educational coordinator for Schenectady County Jail Program. When she began at the jail eight years ago, she taught English to speakers of other languages; now, she coordinates the program, writing grants and managing projects. In the time that she has been there, the program's budget has increased from $15,000 to $335,000.

The education program is squeezed into a few classrooms and one small workroom, which the six full-time and eight part-time staff members share. Last year, they provided classes in GED and literacy, English for speakers of other languages, personal health issues, life management, and vocational training in electronics repair to 185 youth and 355 adults-about twenty percent of the jail population. They also prepared students for release by providing career assessment, case management, and training in job readiness and decision making.

They only teach inmates who want to be taught. There is a waiting list for programs, and students who are uncooperative quickly lose the privilege of education.

Johnson's belief in the importance and power of education is obvious-and relates to her own experience. The recipient of a Union scholarship, she says that her family could never have afforded to send her here, and she is grateful for the education she received.

Statistics show that the educational programs at the jail really work. The rate of recidivism (number of inmates who return to jail after being released) among students in the program is half that of the New York State average. “I think the most important reason I work here is that education can empower people to change their lives. For some, being in jail is enough to motivate them to change, and we're giving them the opportunity to do that,” she says.

She is quick to point out that the program is also cost-effective. The cost of the education of one inmate is $600 while it costs about $30,000 to incarcerate someone for a year.

“But the individual success stories are as important to me as the statistics,” Johnson says. “I've seen amazing changes in people,” she says, pointing to one mother of four who, after her arrest, spent about eight months in jail taking advantage of the education programs. She now has an apartment of her own, has completed a drug rehabilitation program, and is working part time. Now that she is clean and sober, she is getting her children out of foster care and planning to
attend college.

Social justice has always been important to Johnson, who graduated from Union prepared to join the Peace Corps. A French major, Johnson loved her three terms abroad at Union-in Israel, France, and
Spain and looked forward to working in French-speaking Africa. Just before she left, however, she was notified that she would be wait-listed until the braces on her teeth were removed, and suddenly her dream was shattered.

“I had wanted to be in the Peace Corps since I was twelve years old, and I didn't have any vision of my life beyond that,” she says. Waiting to have her braces removed and
enter the Peace Corps, Johnson volunteered at the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York in Albany. She soon moved into an administrative position and was founding president of the Hunger Action Network of New York State. Missing personal interaction, she then decided to go back to college to study teaching English to speakers of other languages.

While in school, Johnson began volunteering at the Washington Irving Educational Center, a division of the Schenectady city school system that provides adult education.
She joined the permanent staff and from there went to the educational program at the jail.

Unsure at first how she would like working at the jail, she now says that if she had the chance to go back in time and join the Peace Corps, she'd still choose the braces and the path that led her to the Schenectady
County Jail. “I've realized that there are serious challenges in our own community,” she says. “I feel that, in some small way, by helping to reduce crime and educate people who may need it most, I am passing on the gift that Union gave me.”