Working towards a bachelor's degree while incarcerated
Abstract
Many of those serving time in prison possess a limited education and few pathways for educational opportunities. Programs that allow prisoners to achieve educational goals are difficult to fund and oftentimes equally difficult to maintain, due to the very nature of prison life. This effective practice, submitted by Azalea Aguilar of the National Crime Prevention Council in August 2006, highlights a program instituted by Boston University that allows inmates to study towards an undergraduate degree, thus increasing their chances of successful reintegration into society upon their release.Issue
Prisoners in the Norfolk, Bay State, and Framingham Prisons, have access to a small library, but there are no instructional resources besides the Department of Correction's schools, which extend only to 12th grade. Nor do prisoners have access to the Internet.Action
General Description
- Boston University's (BU) Prisoner Education Program (PEP) sponsors college at three prisons in Massachusetts -- Norfolk, Bay State, and Framingham -- offering 36 courses every year.
- Boston University does not charge tuition for the program, which serves about 150 students per semester.
- Working in collaboration with a faith-based nonprofit, volunteers for the program come from 54 faith communities.
Procedures
- Professors, who receive a small stipend for their work, hold weekly three-hour classes at the prisons, and inmates can earn a bachelor's degree.
- Tutors and mentors play an important role in helping prisoners remain focused on their goal.
- Collaboration with prison authorities is essential for success, as interruptions in schedule are a major deterrent to programs such as these.
Qualifications
- In order to be eligible for this program, inmates must have nine college credits with at least a 2.5 grade point average.
- Partakers' College Beyond Bars, a program of an Episcopalian community ministry, was founded to help inmates meet the nine college credit requirement to be admitted to the PEP program.
- Each congregation that signs up with Partakers agrees to raise $3,000 to sponsor an inmate, and members of the congregation volunteer to be mentors for the inmate.
- Each inmate student is supported by a team of two to ten volunteer mentors who make a minimum of 12 visits each year.
- The volunteers help the prisoner prepare for admission to the BU program.
- If the prisoner is accepted, the volunteers continue to provide support until he or she has completed the four-year liberal arts degree.
Context
,p>In the year 2000, there were 57 students enrolled in the program, which is supported entirely by an annual $100,000 out-of-pocket contribution from Boston University. BU is the only institution that provides college-level instruction for Massachusetts prisoners, and does so tuition-free.The PEP program was originally coordinated by Elizabeth Barker, a Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) associate professor emerita of English, and a small group of BU faculty members.
Although studies indicate that prisoners who complete educational programs while incarcerated have a better chance of finding a job and staying out of prison than those who don't, the number of college-level programs for prisoners has radically declined from the early 1990s. Many attribute this drop to the Crime Control Act of 1994, which barred prisoners from receiving federal Pell Grants. (Pell grants are need-based and, unlike loans, do not have to be repaid.) Prisoners usually take correspondence courses, but they must pay for tuition, books, and materials.
As a faith-based, nonprofit organization, Partakers is committed to advancing restorative justice, rehabilitation, and the healing transformation of both prisoners and society by reducing prisoner recidivism through education and civic engagement.
Citation
Statistics cited from:
- BU Bridge, Vol. IV, no. 14. November 17, 2000, published by Boston University
- Partakers website, http://www.partakers.org.
Outcome
According to Partakers' internal program evaluation, the recidivism rate drops from 44 percent (the Massachusetts statewide rate) to less than 10 percent for inmates who participate in the College Beyond Bars program.Other changes include:
- Educated prisoners often serve as teachers and tutors, examples, and role models.
- Of all crime prevention methods, higher education is the most cost effective.
- The educational achievements of a child are directly related to his parents' educational level.
Evidence
- An incarcerated person's chances of succeeding once they leave prison increase exponentially if they have a college degree. The average recidivism rate is 60 percent: with a degree, it is less than 11 percent.
- More than 100 inmates are on the waiting list for the PEP program through Boston University.
- One former prisoner, once part of a South Boston armored-car robbery ring, is now a tunnel worker on the Big Dig and an aspiring novelist.
- Another prisoner, who served 13 years for manslaughter, runs a job training program for Pine Street Inn.
- One former bank robber, is now married and associate editor of Pacific News Service in San Francisco.
Posted On
August 17, 2006For More Information
Related Practices
Related sites
Family and Corrections Network