Miami Correctional Facility’s GED program is in limbo as the state looks for a new institution to teach its inmates.
Ivy Tech Community College has provided those services at prisons across the state for the past two years, Ivy Tech officials said Thursday.
Recent contract negotiations, however, fell apart when the state asked Ivy Tech to hire more personnel for the prison programs statewide but offered no additional funding.
“We can’t operate at a loss,” said Jan Bailey, executive director of Ivy Tech’s Corporate College for the Kokomo region.
A spokesman for the Indiana Department of Correction did not respond to messages left Friday seeking comment for this story.
Since negotiations ended, the state has been searching for other providers.
Both Grace College and Oakland City University have showed interest in picking up the contract, Bailey said. But no new deal has been struck.
Meanwhile, the state extended Ivy Tech’s contract by 30 days. It was supposed to end July 1.
Bailey said she had no idea how long the extensions would continue. That uncertainty is hurting Miami Correctional’s program.
“Because of this situation, they’re not taking any new students there,” Bailey said. “They don’t want to have to end the program mid-stream.”
The state was paying Ivy Tech $680,000 a year to operate three programs at Miami Correctional Facility. In addition to the GED program, professors taught inmates how to read and offered business and horticulture classes as well.
Bailey said she can’t understand why the state doesn’t just offer Ivy Tech a little more money for the added personnel. She said the benefits to the state would still be significant.
She calculated that the programs at Miami Correctional saved the taxpayers $2.1 million last year alone.
Bailey said 117 inmates completed the GED program last year and shaved 16,968 days off their sentences — a savings of $916,781.
Nearly 200 inmates completed the literacy program. They cut 12,211 days off of their sentences. Bailey said that saved taxpayers $659,760.
And 134 prisoners finished the career and technical programs and shaved 9,722 days from their sentences. That amounts to $525,280 in taxpayer savings.
Bailey said Ivy Tech can likely provide more resources to the prisons than other institutions because they have campuses and staff across the state.
But Grace College and Oakland City said they could provide the services for less, Bailey said, though she couldn’t see how.
Trustee members pointed out that Oakland City had the department of correction contract before Ivy Tech did, and Grace College has run prison programs before.
Ivy Tech Kokomo Region Chancellor Steve Daily said he thought the whole issue was “totally about money.”
“I can only imagine they low-balled it to get the business,” he said. “All we can say is, ‘Wow. I can’t believe they’re not renewing the contract.’”
The board of trustees for the Kokomo region said they may have a department of correction spokesman speak at their September meeting to explain the situation.
Bailey said she thinks Miami Correctional will suffer because of the decision.
“It’s a sad state of affairs that we can’t continue this program,” she said.