DAVIS COUNTY, Utah — Utah officials are learning that education is often the key to rehabilitation and keeping people out of the criminal justice system.
The definition of "rehabilitate" is to restore someone to health or normal life through training and therapy, including after imprisonment, addiction, or illness.
"The state is really beginning to embrace the idea of rehabilitation over just punishing individuals, removing them from society, and then putting them back out there, without any real means to succeed when they leave," explained Dan Powers, Director of Rehabilitative Programs at Davis Technical College.
For more than a decade, Davis Technical College has been working with Utah corrections officials, trying to break the cycle of inmates who keep returning to jail or prison.
The 2024 Utah Corrections Education Summit kept the goal of breaking cycles in mind as educators and administrators were empowered to help.
The summit is a day-long opportunity for those who work with incarcerated adults or youth to come together for specialized training, presentations, and collaboration.
"We want to help people and we want to be empowered to help people," reflected Brian Fauver, Deptartment of Corrections Education Coordinator, "And that’s what today is really all about.”
Inmates who are dedicated to changing their lives have the opportunity to further their education or learn a trade while behind bars.
“All of our certificate-bearing programs appear on the list of high-impact, in-demand jobs from the governor's office," Powers said. "These jobs again provide livable, wages, as opposed to leaving long-term incarceration and going into a job that perhaps only pays minimum wage. They are now able to provide for their children and rent apartments. The ripple effect of education is what we are finding.”
Data shows great success in the education program so far.
“Our graduates, over the last three years, 70% of those individuals have not come back," Powers reported.
No matter how successful rehabilitation is, Utah officials are dedicated to helping even one inmate find a path for a better future.
