Two programs at Bannock jail aim to educate inmates, reward them for good behavior
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POCATELLO — Two new programs at the Bannock County Jail are designed to improve the environment for inmates and jail staff alike.
Detention Capt. Lyle Thurgood is spearheading a pair of programs. One designed to help inmates attain education and work toward a GED, and the other to reward inmates for good behavior.
Thurgood told EastIdahoNews.com that bored inmates are destined to find something to fill their time, and oftentimes, those things are not productive. These programs are born from a desire to prevent those idle hands and minds.
“It’s a desire to change the environment back there,” he said. “To try to have them engaged in something productive that will keep them from getting into trouble.”
The GED program is designed to get inmates going down the track toward passing the General Educational Development test.
Due to the constant cycling of the jail population, Thurgood added, it is difficult to say how many inmates will be part of the program from one day to the next. And for the same reason, the program has not yet celebrated its first graduate.
“We haven’t had one (inmate) stay and see it through to a full GED, but we’ve given a lot of people assistance,” he said.
The program was slow to start, Thurgood explained, finally launching in August despite being on the radar for much longer — for multiple reasons. For one, it was difficult to find someone with teaching credentials who was willing to instruct classes to jail inmates. But Thurgood and the jail found its man in Zachary Larson, a Preston resident, and teacher at Marsh Valley High School.
Also, the jail has been battling understaffing — like most facilities in eastern Idaho — and with other, higher-priority needs the GED program was not a focus.
“But programs like this, we’re hopeful, will play into that,” Thurgood said. “If you can find ways to improve the environment back there, and reduce the stress level, maybe staff will stick around longer. It makes it better for everybody who’s stuck back there.”
Another hope for the program is a positive impact on recidivism, though, in its short life, the GED program has not begun to improve those rates. In time, Thurgood hopes the program will begin producing graduates, who leave jail with a GED and potential escape from a cycle of criminal behavior.
Thurgood believes that, in time, the program could provide released former inmates with access to similar programs not associated with the jail, which would help generate graduates.
He also thinks that adding an education requirement to the jail’s “120-day Honors Program” could help.
Another of Thurgood’s initiatives, the honors program gives tangible rewards to inmates for good behavior, following rules and staying out of trouble. Inmates receive a small reward for 30 days of success — something small, Thurgood said, like a notepad and colored pencils, and larger rewards, like puzzle books and earbuds for 60 and 90 days.
“(For 120 days), we will recognize you with a certificate you can present to your judge, to show them that while you were incarcerated you stayed out of trouble and were well-behaved, were able to conform to the rules that were necessary in a detention center,” he said.
Not all inmates are eligible for this program, though. One way to be eliminated is by participating in the program, getting released and being arrested again.
The jail has seen a “huge response” to the honors program, with a majority of inmates interested in earning rewards for good behavior, according to Thurgood. It has also given inmates bragging rights, for a longer period of good behavior.
The end game for both programs, Thurgood explained, is improving the environment for both the inmates and jail staff while creating positive outlets for the inmates and something they can leave with that will hopefully help them walk the straight and narrow.