Pa. Prisons Boss: Early Childhood Education Decreases Crime

By Kathleen E. Carey, Delaware County Daily Times

POSTED: 05/26/17, 9:05 PM EDT | UPDATED: 1 WEEK, 3 DAYS AGO

CHESTER >> Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary John Wetzel stood before the State Correctional Institute at Chester Friday to stress the importance of investing in quality early childhood education to decrease incarceration and increase the number of productive citizens in society.

“It’s easier to build strong children than to repair broken men,” he said, quoting Frederick Douglass, before addressing statistics provided in a report entitled “Pre-K Key to Cutting Pennsylvania Prison Costs and Boosting School Success.”

The report, issued by the anti-crime organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, surveyed almost 600 inmates into the Pennsylvania prison system in April. It showed a clear link between lack of education and parental support and propensity towards crime.

Darby Township Police Chief Regina Price was among the law enforcement and elected officials at the event.

“I know from years of experience that we can’t simply arrest, prosecute and incarcerate our way out of … problems,” she said. “We have to implement strategies to keep people from turning to crime in the first place. Education needs to be a focal point of that strategy.”

She quoted the report in citing 40 percent of state prison inmates have not graduated from high school. On the national level, it’s 70 percent, she added.

“We need our youth to be educated not incarcerated and that process starts early,” Price said.

Read more at http://www.delcotimes.com/general-news/20170526/pa-prisons-boss-early-childhood-education-decreases-crime.