The collaboration between The GEO Group and FAU is an exemplary example of GEO's community engagement.
A group of committed educators led by Professor Marshal DeRosa have been coming to GEO’s South Bay Correctional Facility for fourteen weeks to teach a civics education class.
Titled the “Inmate Civics Education Enhancement Project,” its purpose is to teach the founding principles of the American political system and demonstrate the favorable impact on recidivism rates that modern scholarly research indicates can result from such instruction.
Professor DeRosa reports that the offenders participating in the program have been highly engaged when discussing such principles as the premise that all citizens in a democratic society must accept personal responsibility for their actions. Participants, who embrace the concept of good citizenship, stand a much better chance of making a successful return to the communities to which they will be released. Thirty-six inmates graduated on April 20, 2016, and an advanced class is in the planning stages.
According to Warden Don Stine, “This class has the potential to not only assist returning citizens in successfully completing the transition back into society, but to alter the prison culture itself.
An offender who graduated the class commented, "I hit rock bottom. But somehow, I got lucky and ended up here at South Bay Correctional Facility, which offers inmates the opportunities to take vocational classes. I now have the tools to get out and be a successful part of society. Nothing in life would make me happier than turning my life around and being a successful part of society."
Another inmate stated," My eyes have been opened. I realize for someone that knew it all, I knew very little. What a humbling experience. My dream and goal now is to get a true second chance at life, free to live a productive life, responsible and supportive towards life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
