FINDLEY TWP, Mercer County — From the back of the room, Robert Smiley looks like an ordinary teacher standing beside an ordinary easel of large, hand-printed notes.

Flipping the page, Smiley shows a sketch of a stone making ripples in a pond. A student responds immediately when asked what the image represents.

“Where do they hit? They hit all the shorelines: That’s us,” Smiley confirmed of the consequences or “ripples” that emerge from violent acts — the topic of discussion that day.

Although his students vary in age and ethnicity, their similarities are clear: All are men, and all are dressed in drab, brown garb. The common thread of prison attire sets them apart from the world outside.

Despite that separation, inmates at the State Regional Correctional Facility at Mercer receive the same type of schooling as students in more conventional settings. And experts say the schooling prevents many from returning to prison after their release.

Smiley is one of the instructors at the prison school.

While some inmates attend adult education or GED preparation courses, others enroll in vocational programs, emerging as barbers or auto mechanics.

Still others attend college: At the Mercer facility, college credits are earned through a program offered by Butler County Community College. With 26 state-run prisons, the Mercer facility is one of 20 where college courses are available.

Education is not offered at the Butler County Prison or at other county facilities because stays there are typically shorter term.

Of the 1,000-plus inmates in Mercer, between 200 and 300 are enrolled in voluntary educational programs at any given time, said Dennis Mooney, principal at the prison school. Of those, between 10 and 20 are attending college.

“We would have more students if we had a bigger budget,” Mooney said. “Right now I’ve got 12 and I’ve got eight or nine on the wait list.”

The college students earn an 18-credit diploma in basic business skills, which includes business principles, math, computers and other components.

Moving as a “cohort,” the students progress through the BC3 program, earning the diploma in about five semesters, or 1½ years.

One cohort completed the program in December. The new group of 12 is beginning this month.

Administrators say that based on history, the success rate is high: For the college program, grade-point averages hover at about 3.0 — but that doesn’t mean standards are low.

“Everything has to meet the same requirements,” said Diane DeCarbo, BC3 director for Mercer and Lawrence counties.

The completion rate of 80 percent for the prison students also includes students who are transferred to other facilities or who receive early releases — a total Mooney cites when noting the program’s success.

One such success story is “David,” a York County man who completed the diploma program last month.

Upon his release, which could happen anytime between October 2006 and 2011, David said he anticipates limited opportunities for employment. For this reason, the business program seems practical.

Companies like the Harley-Davidson plant near his home practice selective hiring even in ordinary cases, he explained.“I might have to be geared toward a sole proprietorship or working in a small business environment,” he said. “The way the economy’s going, I’m not skilled enough to get a job in a corporation. … It’s hard, normally, because everybody wants those jobs.”Never earning a grade below a B, David said the sheltered environment of prison was one factor in why inmates often succeed in school. Removing many of life’s responsibilities and distractions left room for them to focus on studies.“Out there, we’ve got a lot more forces. It’s life. We’ve got a lot to do — laundry, making food.”Mooney agreed, adding the school likewise offers a way for inmates to preview how a productive lifestyle might work. With educational success sometimes missing from their backgrounds, inmates are offered a safe place to test their academic potential. In doing so, the inmates can experience challenges and accomplishments usually only available outside.“It’s a place where inmates can obtain normality for hours at a time — a normality that’s missing in prison,” he added.Although most of the cost for books and tuition is absorbed by the state, students must contribute $50 per three-credit course — or $300 for all diploma requirements combined.The state’s obligation includes a $10,000 annual contract with BC3. That sum translates to about $250 per student per course or $1,500 for all diploma requirements combined, Mooney said.DeCarbo said although there is no way to measure the local program’s success after students are released, colleges sometimes request student transcripts — alerting her to the fact that education continues after incarceration.According to the Correctional Education Association, instruction during incarceration has additional value: The Three-state Recidivism Study, conducted by the CEA and funded by the U.S. Department of Education, revealed fewer instances of reincarceration among inmates who received education before their release.Released in 2001, the study tracked more than 3,600 inmates released in 1997 and ’98 from prisons in Maryland, Minnesota and Ohio. Of those, the rate of recidivism was 10 percent lower among those who had been educated.“According to a lot of federal data, two-thirds of inmates recidivate after about three years,” said Steve Steurer, executive director of CEA and one of a handful of scholars who conducted the study.“If you can show a net reduction from that amount — even 5 points — that more than pays for itself,” he said. “That 5 percent may save the taxpayers millions of dollars.”In Maryland, for instance, Steurer said the state spends more than $23,000 per year to house and feed each prisoner. “That (reduced recidivism) was about a $22 million savings per year, but the education program only cost $11 million,” he said. “The legislature loved that and they immediately increased funding,” he added.“Money spent on education as compared to prison construction is more effective in dropping future crime rates,” he said.For prisoners like David, who have arrived at the Level 2 minimum security prison in Mercer due to good behavior or an almost complete sentence, the money was well spent.“When I came to jail I chose to do something positive. It definitely gave me more confidence because of (my) accomplishment.”“I didn’t like this experience (in prison). When I get out, I’m going to do my best not to come back.”