In the News

Brawner: Why one ex-con is ‘proud of the man that I have become’

Times Record
9/15/19

Less than a year ago, Terrance Knowlton was in a Wrightsville prison for dealing drugs. Now, he says, “I’m proud of the man that I have become today.”

How did he get from there to here? Partly thanks to Shorter College.

Knowlton, 30, made bad choices in life and ended up selling drugs out of his house. While he was in prison, he met Stormie Cubb, a Shorter College staff member who works with inmates. The North Little Rock-based school is one of 67 institutions nationwide participating in the Second Chance Pell program, which offers government grants to educate prisoners. It teaches classes to 500 inmates in eight locations across Arkansas.

Knowlton enrolled in classes and made good grades. When he was released from prison 11 months ago, he was determined to continue his education.

“First day I came home, I went looking for Miss Stormie,” he said. “She said, ‘Mr. Knowlton, we’re happy to see you. You ready to get started? You ready to be successful? We’ll give you all the tools that you need.’ And she did that. She gave me that opportunity.”

Knowlton made that comment during a meeting Sept. 6 with Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., and representatives of Shorter College, Arkansas Baptist College and Philander Smith College.

Those are historically black colleges and universities, which were formed across the country when African-Americans were barred from attending other schools.

Now that those legal barriers have been removed, HBCUs have had to redefine their mission. For certain students, often but not solely from disadvantaged backgrounds and usually but not always African-American, they are the best option. They can provide a supportive environment that meets students where they are, and they’re physically located in the neighborhood.

Hill believes HBCUs can be an important tool in reducing prison recidivism. Many prisoners are set free lacking the skills to transition to the free world. Of the 8,691 inmates released by the Arkansas Department of Correction in 2014, 57.4% were back behind bars within three years. Each prisoner costs Arkansas taxpayers $24,000 a year to house.

Hill said while governments can provide funding, “they don’t connect moral and economic” concerns the way faith-based HBCUs like Shorter College (African Methodist Episcopal), Philander Smith (United Methodist) and Arkansas Baptist College can.

He’s filed the Shift Back to Society Act to redirect $5 million in Department of Justice grants toward HBCU-run programs. The goal would be for them to create innovative ways to educate inmates and offenders who are transitioning back to society. Successful programs could be scaled up for widespread use.

HBCUs already educate offenders and ex-offenders through Pell Grants. But Shorter College’s president, Jerome Green, said while those pay for tuition costs, this student population also has other needs. Disadvantaged people with criminal backgrounds need a transformational experience.

Shorter College’s George Herts, dean of academic affairs, said he learned teaching a class of 25 inmates that many are afraid of being released. They are conditioned to follow orders and don’t know how to make decisions, and many have no place to go. Educational institutions need housing, which Shorter lacks.

It’s tough for Congress to pass anything these days, and Hill is a Republican in a Democratic-led House of Representatives. But one of his co-sponsors is Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. So maybe Hill can get this through.

If so, maybe it will produce more success stories like Knowlton, who also got help from the Little Rock Workforce Development Board’s Rock City Reentry Project and now manages a Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

He will graduate with a two-year degree in entrepreneurial business studies this spring. That’s Shorter College’s primary offering for ex-inmates because it’s found that many struggle to find work because of their criminal backgrounds. Hopefully, they can use this degree to start their own businesses.

The former drug dealer hopes to sell and service appliances now. He says he loves appliances, and everyone needs them.

“I’m working,” he told me. “I’m not in the streets. I’m a family man. I go to school every day. Got a 4.0. I just made the President’s List.”

Could HBCUs produce more such success stories? I’m willing to bet $5 million to find out.