Butler Community College Receives Grant to Help Inmates

Butler Community College’s Adult Education program received a National Book Fund grant from Pro Literacy for $1,437.00 to purchase books and workbooks for inmates at the El Dorado Correctional Facility who do not have their high school diploma.  Butler served 60 offenders last year who were working toward completing their high school equivalency diploma by taking the General Equivalency Diploma (GED) test at the correctional facility.  The books and workbooks received by the grant are Pre-GED materials for math, language arts, science and social studies. 

According to the National Institute of Justice, the recidivism rate within three years of release from prison for prisoners without a high school diploma is 68% and 76% will return to prison within five years.  There are approximately 400 inmates at the El Dorado Correctional Facility who do not have a high school diploma. Some of these inmates lack basic literacy and numeracy skills.  The books received in the grant are used in a Pre-GED class taught by adult education instructors.  Volunteers assist with numeracy and literacy skills. Volunteers may call adult education at 316-323-6074.