—The Daily Collegian Wednesday, April 10,1974 Rehabilitation success doubtful By GARY MURRAY Collegian Staff Writer Current prison education programs are not likely to rehabilitate inmates within the traditional prison en vironment, according to a senior research associate at the University’s Institute for Research on Human Resources. Morgan V. Lewis said that since the primary function of most prisons is confinement, methods pf social control based on coercion usually are adopted. “An inmate tends to be reduced to the status of a non person. As long as it confines inmates, it seems doubtful that honest rehabilitation is possible,” he said. Lewis said to rehabilitate a prisoner, individual growth must be increased while punishment makes one follow society’s norms. “Neither The Penn State Ukranian Club invitesMouto asatef^EHSTCHEfe ~CrGfcvjßh? (pysanky) 4$ SSa 10*00 AJI-34& wo* w W HUB lounge : Any 1974 graduate who had his 5 I senior pictures taken by Victor I 5 O'Neil Studios and hasn't received \ I them yet, send your name, j : address, and phone number to the | i La Vie office. j • 5 • A a ! La Vie I I 210 Engineering D j ™ A | University Park, Pa. j I 16802 ! expenditures of large sums of money for prison education nor substantial changes in the programs themselves wyl bring about the type of per sonal growth assumed under the term rehabilitation,” he added. “Even though educational programs are unlikely to rehabilitate inmates, it does not follow that they should be discontinued,” Lewis said. “They can contribute a break in the stifling routine of prison life and open new horizons for some inmates. The humanities, in par ticular, may give some prisoners new perspectives and make them more re sponsive and aware of the realities of their own lives.” To aid the inmate, Lewis suggested use of prison funds to help him find a job and a place to live, probation for first offenders and a short sentence for a repeat offender so he does not develop a dependency attitude or lose necessary skills. Lewis said his conclusion is based on a four-year study of an experimental educational program at the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill, which confines 15- to 21-year-old offenders. Using a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Lewis designed a program to expose young inmates to the humanities to help them achieve a sense of personal identity and develop more socially approved values. “Within the limits of its ability the staff at Camp Hill makes an honest effort at rehabilitation, but everyone realizes that their primary responsibility is detention,” Lewis said. “Prison produces social situations that are anti- rehabilitation treatment must be community based to be effective.” Inmates who participated in the program were in troduced to musical in struments and encouraged to write and to put on original plays. Despite 75 per cent of the inmates reporting positive opinions about the program, follow-up interviews over a three-year period showed that almost one-third of those released were returned to prison. Of those still in society, almost one-third were unemployed at each in terview, and many who held jobs expressed dissatisfaction with them. Psychological testing, however, revealed no significant differences be tween the tested group and two control groups of inmates who did not join the program in their attitudes toward the humanities after release. They were no more likely to read books, write essays or poetry, or attend concerts and plays than the control group. “The students seemed to become more aware of themselves and the realities of their environment,” Lewis said, “but used defense mechanisms to hide from the realities discovered.” iOONESBURY Students build marble-shooters CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP)—ln the spring, the thoughts of dirty-kneed boys and engineering students turn to marbles. They did, at least, for 80 Massachusetts Institute of Technology students in a mechanical engineering class. Their project was to build a gizmo that would shoot a marble as far as possible in the fastest possible time. Designs ranged from the simple to the bizarre. But all 80 had the same working material —two rubber bands, five paper clips, six inches of piano wire, four tongue depressors, four feet of string, a plastic cup, 10 straws, 10 pins, a pink eraser. And a marble. 2 The simplest designs worked best. The object was to fly the marble from an elevated start to the farthest gate on a six- foot-long water trough below Students were disqualified if it took them longer than 45 seconds to set up their contraption. For some, there was utter failure. “This is very painful for some of the people who have worked for weeks on their projects and have seen them run perfectly in practice,’’ said Prof. David G. Wilson, who dreamed up the contest. The more complicated machines sometimes refused to leave the starting gate or fell apart in flight. Wilson said this demonstrated Murphy’s law: if something can go wrong, it will. The winner was Thomas S. Birney of Elizabethtown, Pa. His pully aparatus, made from pieces of straw, a paper clip and a few other odds and ends, sent his marble flying into the highest numbered gate, 76, in the lowest time, 2.07 seconds. It took about three hours to build. “And I don’t even play marbles,” he said Reid piano concert moved to Tomorrow’s piano concert by Mike Reid, former Penn State All-American, has been rescheduled for Schwab. Representatives of Beta Sigma Rho fraternity, which is sponsoring the per formance for the benefit of the American Cancer Society, said the change was made to provide better performing conditions for the artist after it was determined Rec Hall facilities would not be required. Science Student Council Meeting Tonight! 7:00 p.m. 116 Osmond Lab Eveiyone Welcome! JUNE GRADUATES ■ Why not consider a career in sales? J Send resume to: Wienken Associates College Life Insurance Co. Box 1082 State College, Pa. 16801 You will be contacted for an interview. Century Towers 710 S. Atherton Street Now Leasing lor Fall 9 month lease available at no extra charge Furnished Efficiencies Furnished and unfurnished one bedroom 10 channel TV cable • Laundry facilities Dishwasher • Air-conditioner Also offering REDUCED SUMMER RATES Furnished apartments as low as sloB°° All utilities included For more information call ASSOCIATES 238-5081 Holiday Inn —1450 S. Atherton St. Weekdays 8:30-5:30 Sat. 9-12a.m. WELL, IT COULD „ HAVE HAPPENED.'! $ I Schwab Penn State football coach Joe Paterno will introduce his former player for the 7:30 p.m. performance, “An Evening of Music and Con versation with Mike Reid.” Reid, defensive tackle and co-captain of the 1969 un defeated Nittany Lions, currently is an all-pro tackle with the Cincinnati Bengals and a concert pianist with the Cincinnati Symphony Or chestra during the off-season. For his first performance at the University since his graduation, Reid will play a wide range of contemporary music, blended with con versation concerning professional football, music and other subjects. LUNCH SPECIAL Chicken Divan Lunch Salad $1.75 TRAIN STATION
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