Introduction For offenders reentering the community the transition can be very difficult. Offenders face hardships in securing employment and housing to receiving adequate treatment for mental and physical illnesses and substance abuse. The number of offenders reentering society from prison and jail is steadily increasing yearly. States are diligently working to identify methods to help offenders successfully reintegrate into society. Some initiatives available in Harris County, TX include prison education programs, life and job skills training and counseling services. This paper focuses on the educational opportunities available for offenders in Harris County, TX. The education opportunities are structured to assist offenders with incarceration related factors and attempts to help offenders with successful reintegration with family, the community and society as a whole. I will discuss several educational initiatives available to offenders and how these initiatives correlate to our text.
Harris County, TX . On March 12, 2004 the CEA unanimously voted to grant accreditation to Harris County Sheriff’s Office Inmate Education Program. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office became the first county jail in the U.S. to receive the Correctional Education Association (CEA) accreditation for its Inmate Education Program (Albers, 2006:15). This recognition sets Harris County Sheriff’s Office to a high standard to be compared with. The educational facility is located on Crites Street in Harris County which opened in 2003. The Inmate Education Program began in 1973 as a way to offer qualified offenders an opportunity to obtain an education to prepare for life after prison or jail. Since its inception, the program created by the partnership between the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and Houston Community College has grown into one of the largest departments in the college