The correlation between criminal behavior and illiteracy is well documented. Failures in school and education can directly translate into crime and violence on the street.

The Criminon Program handles this deficiency head-on with The Learning Skills for Life course, which teaches the student how to study, how to overcome the barriers to comprehension, and how to retain knowledge. It enables one to study any subject and learn the material effectively, so that he may then apply it immediately in life, with success.

Ultimately, why does one study? So he can use what he has learned. But not knowing how to study and effectively learn a subject or craft can bar the road to real life application and success, not to mention something as basic as getting and holding a job.

On this course, students are taught how to recognize and overcome the barriers to learning. They are also taught how to look up and define words so that they are understood, whether in books or conversations. And most importantly, they are taught how to apply what is being learned so that it can be used. In effect, students on this course learn how to learn.

Graduates from the Learning Skills for Life course have acknowledged this course as providing vital skills for future training, not just in the Criminon Program, but in life. Students often feel for the first time that they can master any subject or craft, and that they can then build a career from what they’ve learned.

Criminon also offers courses that cover phonics and grammar, for those who must first master the ability to read before they begin the program.

Here is what one inmate had to say about this course:

“My practice was to read the theory of a trade before doing the practical aspect. By doing this practice I was constantly getting confused, distracted and bored. I generally ended quitting without knowing why I lost interest. After reading and doing the first lesson of the Learning Improvement course I realized I was doing it all wrong. I am now learning Small Engine Repair and have implemented what I read and learned by doing this course. I am astonished and pleased by the significant difference. I now have the ability to easily grasp every phrase and detail. I am surely breezing through with no major obstacles. I wish I had done this course years ago – I would not be in prison now.”

T.B.,
Centinella State Prison