... And Academe

California's San Diego State College is involved in a different approach. Like some other colleges across the nation, it has for the past four years been accepting prison parolees as students.

At San Diego, the program has been remarkably successful. Of the 47 prisoner alumni accepted, only two have violated parole and been sent back to stir. The makes a 4.3% rate of recidivism, compared with 30.4% for the corrections system statewide. "We take the whole range of offenses," says Dr. Melvin Murphy of San Diego's School of Social Work. "But we have the most trouble with drug addicts. Give me a good murderer any time." Murphy has just received a $212,000 Federal grant to study the effectiveness of the program.

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