Sometimes the editorial writer’s challenge is to point out connections between elements of our community’s culture that seem unrelated — or just as frequently, between elements whose connections make people a little uncomfortable. So be it.

Tuesday’s editorial discussed the connections between Main Street economic development and our spirit of community — those forces that draw us to Butler and keep us living and working here.

Today we look at a segment of the community that struggles with compliance. Criminals are a part of every community — Butler is certainly no exception. Prison helps protect us from the dangerous criminals, but it is far from a complete remedy. Prisons are expensive, and inmates are unproductive.

That’s what should excite everyone about the first-anniversary assessment of an inmate treatment program at Butler County Prison.

The program moved treatment from the Gaiser Center to a former pod at the prison on South Washington Street. Classes dealing with 14 issues like addiction, anger management, trauma, GED training, and drug and alcohol cessation are conducted for inmates, said Jen Passarelli, deputy warden of security and treatment.

Five prison counselors run most of the classes, The Center for Community Resources and Butler County Community College teach the rest.

What makes this program work? Simple. It’s a formula of give and get.

The prison gives the inmates an academic-social environment — four classrooms, no cells — and an opportunity to master skills they can use when released from prison.

In turn, the inmates make themselves accountable to the program. Counselors keep records to ensure each inmate’s classes are current and relevant to their issues, and to determine whether the classes were successful.

The inmates also get the rewards of cooperation: dignity, self-respect, confidence and hope.

The prison gets a decrease in repeat offenders.

Passarelli said the program targets the 75 percent of the inmate population that’s considered medium- or high-risk for returning to prison. With a current population of 317, that’s 238 people expected back.

Ten months later, four inmates have earned their GED certificates. Others have found a vocational path. “We have guys thinking college now,” Passarelli said. “They learned they can do it.”

This is encouraging, not just because of the glimmers of early success, but because of the way the success has come about: through guided self-determination and accountability.

Accountability is a notion we seem to have forgotten in recent decades, when neighbors hardly know the folks living next door. Accountability, an essential fiber in the fabric of community, is now part of the curriculum of a prison rehabilitation program. We’ve got to rediscover and reincorporate such things any way we can.