M Y T H B U S T E R! 

A Product of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council

REENTRY

On Education Technology in Juvenile Facilities

The use of technology in correctional classrooms offers many 

advantages, such as addressing a broad range of learning styles 

and academic readiness, reaching isolated or geographically 

remote populations, and leveraging limited instructional 

resources via virtual dissemination. While concerns over youth 

and community safety often prevent facilities from pursuing 

such optionsi, states and jurisdictions have begun to explore 

options for offering their students and staff opportunities to use 

education techology while maintaining security and safety. 

Indiana

State-run Juvenile Delinquent Facilities, statewide

Textbook Online Supplemental Materials via SMART Boards 

How they got started. As many textbook publishers have begun 

to bundle online supplementary material with their textbooks, 

teachers in Indiana’s state-run juvenile securities felt that, due 

to the lack of Internet access, their students were missing out 

on opportunities afforded their peers in local schools. Their 

principals sought assistance from the Indiana Department of 

Correction’s (IDOC) Office of Juvenile Education, which soon 

developed a two-year plan to get SMART boards into each 

classroom within the state’s juvenile correctional facilities. By 

2013, many facilities had the SMART Boards and were tapping 

into online supplemental instructional and teaching materials. 

IDOC is continuing to install SMART Boards in every juvenile 

correctional facility classroom and is exploring more 

possibilities for supplementing textbook-based learning with 

online and other digital tools, and increasing the use of 

computer-based student assessments, including the newly

redesigned General Education Development (GED) test 

launching in 2014. 

How they paid for it. State support in conjunction with funding 

from Title I, Part D of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

How they ensure education and security. Each classroom’s 

SMART Board is routed through desktop computers on each 

teacher’s desk to ensure that access to online learning materials 

is used for the right purposes. The teacher ensures the security 

for the computer and has sole access to the computer’s 

contents and Internet connection. Further, Internet access is 

provided and protected by a NovaNet intranet, which sets up 

firewalls that prevent access to content inappropriate for the 

classroom.

Loysville Youth Development Center, 

Pennsylvania

Loysville Youth Development Center (LYDC)

International Computer Driving License

How they got started. Over the past two years, the 

Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has been working 

with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (PDPW), 

who operates the LYDC, to implement online training courses 

for the International Computer Driving License, or ICDL. The 

ICDL certification programs consist of seven modules that 

provide users with the skills necessary to be a proficient user of 

a computer and common computer applications. In 2013, LYDC 

began the process of expanding the youth’s access to the ICDL 

outside of the classroom, during evening study hours, to 

supplement what youth accomplish during the school day. 

Loysville is in the early stages of implementing the ICDL facilitywide, and they have plans to explore other online and 

computer-based educational and vocational opportunities.

MYTH: Juvenile correctional facilities that want to expand youth 

access to technology must be willing to compromise the 

security of the facility and the safety of detained youth.

FACT: Many juvenile correctional facilities have successfully used 

technology, including the Internet, to broaden the scope of 

education programming while maintaining appropriate and 

effective safeguards for detained youth. 
 

REENTRY

M Y T H B U S T E R ! 

How they paid for it. The ICDL program is paid for exclusively by 

PDPW with state funding. PDE, in turn, provides the 

technological infrastructure, including computers and secure 

Internet connection, within the school setting to operate ICDL. 

How they ensure education and security. Facility and PDE staff 

worked with state IT professionals to institute safeguards 

preventing access to any Internet content outside of the ICDL 

program. Students are continuously monitored by teaching and 

security staff to ensure they are not using the computers or 

Internet access for any other purposes. The facility also tracks 

all Internet usage and creates monthly reports. Any youth 

found using connections inappropriately meets with 

appropriate staff to discuss how their behavior jeopardizes not 

only their continued access to the ICDL and other opportunities 

but also the access of their peers.

Oregon

Juvenile Corrections and Detention Facilities, statewide

Oregon Virtual School District (ORVSD)

How they got started. In 2010, Oregon formalized access to the 

Internet and other electronic networks for all facilities 

statewide by enacting Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 

Chapter 416, Division 040. The Rule provides guidelines for 

acceptable use of specific computers, hardware, software, 

storage media, and networks by youth within Oregon Youth 

Authority (OYA) custody that assists in their successful 

reintegration from confinement into the community. With OAR 

416-040 in place, OYA and the Oregon Department of Education 

(ODE) have made available the Oregon Virtual School District 

(ORVSD) to all OYA facilities as of July 1, 2013. ORVSD allows 

students to supplement their classes with videos, podcasts, and 

i Borden, C., & Richardson, P. The Effective Use of Technology in 

Correctional Education. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 

Reentry Roundtable on Education, May 31–April 1, 2008.

other online resources. ODE and OYA are supplementing ORVSD 

with a Hippo Campus server, which allows short-term students 

in OYA facilities to have access to a playlist of individual lessons 

without having to enroll in a full course. Oregon is embarking 

on a full-scale, statewide implementation of ORVSD in their 

facilities while adopting a uniform online student assessment 

that will let them track every student’s progress at the state 

level.

How they paid for it. Because ORVSD began in the public 

schools, ODE already supports the technological “backbone” of 

the system and they have developed a separate “virtual school 

district budget.” As ORVSD makes its way into OYA facilities, this 

budget covers all initial fees, the online courses, training 

materials, and server space for all facilities. The only financial 

responsibility for the facilities is the hardcopy instructional 

materials used by students and teachers.

How they ensure education and security. Security is 

maintained by the use of screening software and firewalls in 

place in each facility. Additionally, all facility superintendents 

(or designated staff) review the online history of all machines 

on a monthly basis and all employ continuous real-time 

monitoring of every computer within the facility, ensuring that 

no inappropriate content is accessed by anyone. Finally, OYA 

and ODE have worked with the ORVSD vendor, Oregon State 

University, to ensure youth cannot access online content 

outside of ORVSD. 

For More Information: 

NDTAC Technology Program Highlights 

http://www.neglected-delinquent.org/neglected-or-delinquentprogram-highlights

 

What is a REENTRY MYTH BUSTER?

This Myth Buster is one in a series of fact sheets primarily intended to clarify Federal policies that affect formerly incarcerated 

individuals and their families. Each year, about 640,000 individuals are released from state and Federal prisons. Another 9 million 

cycle through local jails. When reentry fails, the social and economic costs are high—more crime, more victims, more family 

distress, and more pressure on already-strained state and municipal budgets. 

Because reentry intersects with health and housing, education and employment, family, faith, and community well-being, many 

Federal agencies are focusing on initiatives for the reentry population. Under the auspices of the Cabinet-level interagency Reentry 

Council, Federal agencies are working together to enhance community safety and well-being, assist those returning from prison 

and jail in becoming productive citizens, and save taxpayer dollars by lowering the direct and collateral costs of incarceration.

For more information about the Reentry Council, 

go to: http://csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/projects/firc/