When Keller returned to prison in January 2006 on a three-year sentence for selling drugs, something different happened.

"It wasn't the same this time," she said. "I took all the classes I could in regard to programming and the education provided for me."

Now Keller, who got an early release in September, is determined to stay out of prison.

The Arizona Department of Corrections is operating under a vastly different system than it did before director Dora Schriro took over in June 2003.

"It's a humongous difference," said Tixoc Muñoz, who represents correctional officers in the Arizona Conference of Police and Sheriffs union.

"We're in a lot better shape now," Muñoz said.

In the roughly four years Schriro's reforms have been in effect, inmate violence and drug use are down, more inmates are enrolled in education classes and have earned their GEDs and early results of recidivism studies show that fewer released prisoners are committing crimes and returning to prison.

Schriro was hired after previous director Terry Stewart retired. She brought a national reputation for reducing recidivism through an innovative program she started in Missouri's prison system called "parallel universe," which teaches inmates how to live productive lives after release.

Muñoz said Schriro's willingness to listen to officers and staff has helped turn things around.

Officers also are more actively involved in how inmates are rehabilitated, he said.

"In the old times, inmates would bring attention to themselves by screaming, yelling, throwing water or whatever," Muñoz said.

"The inmates, you can see that they feel more comfortable speaking to us about their issues, their problems, whatever the case may be.

"In the old times, they would just let the inmates scream and yell and say, 'Who cares?'"

Muñoz said the number of officers staffing 16 state prison facilities has remained steady - around 5,500 - while the inmate population has steadily increased - just over 31,000 as of Thursday, up from 27,700 in 2003.

Yet, he said, inmate assaults on staff have been drastically reduced.

"Five years ago, before Schriro came in, there used to be two, three assaults a day," Muñoz said. "Today, probably there's one a week.

Assaults on staff fell from 239 in 2003 to 140 in 2007, DOC statistics show.

"The reason is because now we speak to the inmates," Muñoz said. "Remember, the old regime was to lock them up and throw away the key, who cares what's going on?"

Other areas that have improved include reductions in inmates assaulting inmates and officers, sex assaults, technical revocations of community supervision (formerly called parole), ex-offenders committing new crimes, prisoner grievances, lawsuits filed by inmates, positive drug tests, and improvement in completion of drug and educational programs, Schriro said.

Schriro's parallel universe takes the form of many programs across the state.

For instance, inmates at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson, 10000 S. Wilmot Road, recently made teddy bears that were given to local shelters for abused women and children. Such "restorative justice" programs make inmates aware of how criminal activity creates victims, said Schriro.

"In general, it makes them far less likely to act impulsively and do bad things," Schriro said. "They learn to stop and think and realize that there are consequences for things that they do and that they and they alone are responsible for the circumstances that they are in. They find themselves prepared to accept the consequences of the decisions they make."

At the same time, Schriro said, statistics show inmates are better prepared to re-enter society.

Which is what happened to Keller.

"While I was in the walls, I found out where to get help for every scenario I knew of because I knew when I got out, I would have to do it on my own," Keller said.

The numbers speak for themselves.

The number of inmates earning the equivalent of a high school diploma has soared 318 percent from 791 in 2003 to 3,306 in 2007.

During that same time, 3,665 inmates earned work-based education certificates from 61 on-site real-world job training programs. About 63 percent of the inmates who can work were employed full or part time as of the end of last fiscal year, June 30. Inmates tested positive for drugs 24 percent less in 2007 than they did in 2003. Of the 18,619 inmates released in fiscal year 2007, 40 percent served less than six months.

And so far the results of the recidivism study are promising. From 2006 to 2007, the number of ex-offenders who served six months or fewer before release and then committed new crimes fell from 1.63 percent to 1.39 percent.

Schriro said DOC's method of operating has altered from the moment an inmate enters the prison system, closely examining how inmates are classified when they enter prison, which determines housing.

The department has created "fast-track facilities" for short-term inmates - Level 1 units - where they can be placed as soon as possible and begin to address issues and skills needed upon release.

Level 1 units began at three prisons, including the Tucson facility, and will expand to all prisons soon, Schriro said.

Of 618 ex-offenders from the first Level 1 units, only five committed new crimes within a year of release, department data shows.

"Not only do we determine what custody level the inmate ought to be, but also what other kinds of skill deficiencies that need to be addressed and whether we have enough time to address them all in the department," Schriro said.

Inmates are reclassified yearly to determine whether their needs have changed. They are assigned to programs based on how much intervention they need, the risk they pose to themselves and others, length of sentence and how open they are to treatment.

Inmates who are not confined to high-security units are taught how to structure their lives in prison, including work and leisure time.

There are no more mass wake-up calls, either. Inmates are expected to know where they are supposed to be and when they are supposed to be there. They know when meals are served and if they don't get to the chow hall on time, they miss the meal.

Inmates who are busy improving themselves and learning social skills not only are less likely to threaten safety inside the prison, but they are less likely to threaten communities once they are released, Schriro said.

"We want to see they get the optimal time to practice inside what they have to do outside," she said.

In 2007, the Arizona Legislature approved two programs as part of parallel universe.

Teaching Offenders to Live is intended to offer treatment and relapse prevention services to help inmates live independently.

Lawmakers also allowed a family reunification program in prisons on the theory that inmates who have strong family ties on the outside have a better chance of succeeding after release.

Keller and some Tucson officials who help ex-offenders applaud Schriro's restructuring, but say drug and alcohol abuse programs have fallen victim to budget cuts and are desperately needed.

"I don't fault DOC entirely," said Caroline Isaacs, director of the Arizona American Friends Service Committee, a prisoner rights organization. "They do what they can even when they're given nothing by the Legislature.

"Pilot programs for substance abuse issues pop up overnight, but go away just as quickly," Isaacs said.

"Sixty-two percent of people released from prison suffer from some kind of substance abuse," said Peggy Hutchinson of the Tucson-based Primavera Foundation, which helps ex-offenders through its Prisoner Re-entry Program.

"Doesn't it make sense to make sure you have within the prisons substance abuse treatment?"

"It's not that we need to figure out what works," she said. "We know what works. We need to invest in that."

"The pressure goes on the state Legislature to give DOC the tools to fully implement parallel universe," Isaacs said. "DOC has made great strides and we're really appreciative of their interest and intention, but it's not quite there."

Keller is determined to stay sober and out of prison. She recently defied some occupational advice and completed training as a recovery support specialist.

"They told me I couldn't do that," Keller said. "But I did it. They told me I needed to find work in fast food, but I refused to believe that.

"I'm reaching out. I'm helping others do what they want to do because I know what it's like to get out and take the easy road and I know what it's like to struggle for what you want."

A longtime University of Arizona law professor says innovative prison programs such as Arizona's "parallel universe" are more successful when offenders are willing to participate.

"The data shows that motivation is an element in whether correctional programs work," said David B. Wexler, who discussed his ideas in a UA discussion paper, "Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Readiness for Rehabilitation" in January.

"The data shows when people are involved in what happens to them, they feel that the process was fair and are more likely motivated to comply,'' he said.

The process should start before the offender sets foot in prison, Wexler said.

Judges and defense attorneys can help by doing such simple things as pronouncing the offender's name right and looking them in the eye, said Wexler, professor emeritus at UA's James E. Rogers College of Law.

"How a judge acts at a hearing is going to impact whether someone is going to comply or not," Wexler said, calling from his home in Puerto Rico recently.

A judge who just lays down the punishment with an attitude such as "These are the conditions. Good luck. Hope to not see you again," probably won't see as much compliance with the defendant as a judge who takes the time to know who the person being sentenced is, Wexler said.

"A dialogue that leads to probationary conditions in essence creates a bilateral contract instead of something that's unilaterally imposed by the judge," Wexler said.

Though research in this area is hard to compile without some kind of controlled experiment, Wexler said, "general data is coming out that is supportive of these types of techniques."

These techniques are most often effective in specialty courts that deal with drug cases or mental health issues. Specialty courts often reward participants with graduation ceremonies that boost the ex-offenders' confidence in staying out of trouble, Wexler said.

"It's very reinforcing," Wexler said. "They're showing that they're not just there to nail someone who's out of compliance, but give them a pat on the head because they're doing well. It's a very good way to monitor how the offender is doing and see whether the system is properly performing."

Pima County Superior Court Judge Richard S. Fields calls Wexler one of the "pioneers" in this area of the law.

"He has a very sharp, analytical mind and makes some valid points," said Fields, who was a student of Wexler's at UA.

"To some extent, I think that some judges incorporate some of his suggestions just by nature," Fields said. "I try to, although perhaps not on a daily basis, depending on how heavy the caseload is and how much time I have to deal with individual defendants.

"I do try to remind people being sentenced of their strengths to encourage them to rise above their weaknesses.''

Another former student of Wexler's, Joel Parris of the Federal Defender's Office in Tucson, has incorporated some of his ideas.

For instance, Parris encourages clients about to be sentenced to write down reasons probation is appropriate for them to show the judge.

Wexler said therapeutic jurisprudence not only motivates offenders, but judges as well.

"A lot of studies suggest that judicial satisfaction is higher among judges who take a more therapeutic or holistic approach," Wexler said. "They feel they're not dispensing revolving-door justice."

Wexler said that feeling also extends to defense attorneys as well as family and friends of the offender, who may view the justice system in a new light.

"It's been proven that doctors who have a better bedside manner, who take the time to talk to patients and explain things, are sued much less for malpractice than those who don't," Wexler said.