EDUCATION FOR PRISONERS A LAUDABLE INVESTMENT

The most celebrated new resident of Southern Illinois is in for an education. Not only must convicted crime boss John Gotti, a native New Yorker, grow accustomed to the midwestern climate and rigors of life in Marion's U.S. Penitentiary, but federal law requires that he hit the books. We applaud the law that makes this necessary and wish it would be applied to all other levels of incarceration.

Reports about Gotti's imprisonment also brought new light on a law that requires federal inmates who lack a high school diploma to take a literacy program for 90 days, or until they pass a high school equivalency examination. Gotti procured his ill-gotten success in life without the benefit of a diploma; he dropped out of school at age 16. Prison instruction is available in mathematics, science, English and writing and is generally done through a closed-circuit television channel, directly to the cells.

We feel this is a worthwhile effort, one that should not be limited to federal institutions. This idea has been addressed in Missouri, where the Governor's Advisory Council on Literacy in 1989 suggested two plans of action on educating prisoners: one, the state should provide sufficient instruction by 1995 that 90 percent of inmates who are functionally illiterate achieve an eighth-grade education before they are paroled, and, two, that all capable inmates earn high-school equivalency certificates before being paroled.

It seems reasonable that inmates with a higher level of education stand a greater chance of leading productive lives outside prison walls; certainly, prisoners could put their time to better use studying than merely biding their time behind bars. In Missouri, 85 percent of the state's 12,000 inmates don't have high school diplomas. An investment in education for these people could pay off for the state.

As for John Gotti, life's lessons even in New York probably didn't round out his education. While an equivalency certificate might not enhance his resume, some formal schooling wouldn't hurt him. At this late date, the ~Dapper Don could serve as a good example by hitting the books.