Since 1997, Texas HOPE
Literacy designed and
directed by
Lucy Smith
has made significant contributions to the
Hutchins State Jail
by providing peer education training to male inmates for
the purpose of remediating functional illiteracy.
As
a result of investing countless hours in program design
and development, the Hutchins State Jail has been selected
to be the first HOPE Literacy training center in Texas
Department of Criminal Justice.
The program focuses on team building for both peer
educators and students. The HOPE classes are
individualized, and are structured around
multisensory
systematic structured modules to achieve improved
outcomes. This methodology has been proven through
research to be most effective for students with learning
disabilities such as dyslexia and ADD/ADHD. HOPE is
exceptionally qualified to provide effective literacy
programs with positive measurable results in a variety of
settings from intervention to productive re-entry into
society. Statistics show that educational improvement has
long lasting effects.
HOPE’s unique faith component teaches responsibility and
accountability
through the structure of city concept where they
learn how to live in community with different cultures,
belief systems, values, and morals. The faith component
promotes peer mentoring and self-government. The inmates
learn to think, practice and model appropriate behaviors
while in prison without expecting personal rewards other
than personal satisfaction and their students’ successes.
This gives them HOPE for a new and different way of life,
better jobs, and ability to support themselves and their
families financially and emotionally. It enhances
awareness and elevates self-esteem. HOPE peer educators
and students are also better prepared to
help their children with their schoolwork.
he faith aspect exposes
all inmates in the
program to principles
and values that will help them understand that
crime violates people and damages relationships. It gives
them the incentive to make things right. Inmates who
are successful on the outside will help reduce recidivism
rates, and make our communities safer, and will greatly
impact their own children who are risk to go to prison.
Community volunteers contribute ongoing administrative
support to program operation at an average contribution of
30-35 volunteer hours per week. HOPE has trained many
inmates on four sites to coach their peers who are
functionally illiterate, while building in skills
necessary for the workplace. The program focuses on team
building and character development. Its participants are
expected to attain a
high degree of excellence in their
personal lives and relationships with each other and their
families. They learn to be responsible to complete
assigned tasks and meet deadlines. They learn that living
in community is better than living in isolation.
They are busy, positively productive, and happy. As
a result of the program's success, HB 28 was passed in
2003 allowing peer educators to tutor in the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice prison system.
The offenders learn to practice and model appropriate
behaviors while in prison without expecting personal
rewards other than the satisfaction of knowing that their
peers are successful. HOPE uses multisensory systematic
structured methodology that has been proven through
research to be most effective for students who demonstrate
learning differences such as dyslexia and ADD/ADHD.
