Education Based Incarceration - MERIT Masters

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2013

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) is the nation’s largest sheriff’s department, second largest policing agency, and in addition to dozens of patrol stations and the country’s largest court security responsibilities, operates the nation’s largest jail system. With over 18,500 incarcerated men and women, Sheriff Leroy D. Baca wants to educate all of them. At a time when fiscal resources are limited due to the ongoing economic crisis being faced by governments, a new and innovative program called “MERIT Masters” was created to expand one of the Education Based Incarceration Bureau’s premiere programs called Maximizing Education Reaching Individual Transformation. By enlisting the assistance of inmate students to facilitate courses covering primary areas of one’s life such as recovery, employment, financial, legal, medical, family, and recreation, MERIT Masters has changed the way we do business in the jails.The idea of inmates teaching inmates has proven to be successful as general population male and female inmates are taught life skills by those who understand them best – someone who has similar life and living experiences. Since the inception of the program in July of 2012, hundreds of inmates have been positively impacted.