Every human being strives for significance, but people always make mistakes if they do not recognize that their own significance lies in their contribution to the lives of others.
- Alfred Adler |
We are a 501(c)(3) charity and all donations are tax deductible
Other Higher Education Opportunities
Prison Studies Project
Nationwide directory of higher education in prison programs.
http://prisonstudiesproject.org/directory/
PrisonEducation.com 
Distance learning can be difficult for prisoners to obtain. We’ve compiled a list of our favorite correspondence schools that offer paper-based formats that are accessible to prisoners.
http://www.prisoneducation.com/correspondence-schools/
List of Schools Offering College Courses to Incarcerated People
We found this info at InmateAID: http://www.inmateaid.com/pages/details/universities-offering-inmate-college-courses-1
ALABAMA
Alabama Prison Arts and Education Project (APEAP)
http://humsci.auburn.edu/apaep/
Auburn University
Kyes Stevens, Founder/Director
334-844-8946
stevemk@auburn.edu;apaepau@auburn.edu
Population Served: Incarcerated students in Alabama state prisons
Program Description: The Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project is a program dedicated to providing access to sustained and quality educational experiences in the arts and humanities to incarcerated students in Alabama.
The program believes that it is important for incarcerated people to gain a quality education, and also to build a relationship with learning that will continue to grow for the rest of their lives. The goals of APAEP have always been to place rich creative and intellectual opportunities into Alabama’s prisons.
ARIZONA
Rio Salado College
Incarcerated Re-Entry
2323 West 14th Street
Tempe, AZ 85281
Phone: 480-517-8345
Toll-free: 877-517-8345
incarcerated.reentr@riosalado.edu
Population Served: Rio Salado College has partnered with the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) to teach the incarcerated population the skills necessary for integration into society upon release.
Program Description: Rio Salado College offers many distance learning classes that provide the incarcerated population an opportunity for college credit that lead to certificates and degrees. Rio offers more than 90 classes in printbase and/or mixed media format. There are classes that meet General Education requirements such as English Composition, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Humanities.
CALIFORNIA
Prison University Project (PUP)
www.prisonuniversityproject.org
Post Office Box 492
San Quentin, CA 94964
Jody Lewen, Executive Director
jlewen@prisonuniversityproject.org
415-155-8088, ext 3
Population Served: Any San Quentin State Prison inmate who is classified as general population and holds either a GED or high school diploma is eligible to enroll in the College Program.
Program Description: Program offers courses in the humanities, social sciences, math, and science, leading to an Associate’s degree, as well as math, science, and foreign language courses required for transfer to UC and Cal State schools. All instructors work as volunteers. Prison University Project has five paid staff people. The degree is offered through Patten University, a small independent university in Oakland, CA.
UC Santa Cruz Project for Inmate Education (UCSC PIE)
Mark Krumholz
Population Served: Incarcerated students in the Santa Cruz county jail
Program Description: UCSC PIE is an organization founded by members of the UCSC astronomy and physics departments that are dedicated to providing free education to incarcerated people in local jails. UCSC PIE started operating in spring 2009 with an algebra class for students at the Santa Cruz County Jail.
COLORADO
Adams State College Prison College Program
James Bullington (Coordinator), Prison College Program
303-241-0550
Population Served: Incarcerated students throughout Colorado and the United States
Program Description: At Adams State College we know how important education is to all individuals, especially for those who happen to be incarcerated. For over nine years Adams State College has worked extensively inside Colorado prisons offering on-site face-to face courses. During this time we have also worked with thousands of prisoners throughout the United States by helping them obtain their dream of a college education. ASC is committed to addressing the specific needs of incarcerated students by offering the following benefits:
GEORGIA
The Certificate in Theological Studies at Lee Arrendale State for Women (CTS)
Dr. Liz Bounds, Program Founder ebounds@emory.edu
Cathy Zappa, Program Director czappa@emory.edu
Susan Bishop, Chaplain at Arrendale Prison
Population Served: Incarcerated women at Lee Arrendale State Prison with high-school diploma or equivalent
Program Description: CTS is designed to offer selected incarcerated students academic theological instruction that is ecumenical in scope and to train them to serve as lay religious leaders both in prison and after their release. The program’s other major goal is to provide unique teaching opportunities to seminary and doctoral students from the participating institutions as well as formative experience for congregational leadership for M.Div. students
University of Georgia
Office of Academic Programs
Independent and Distance Learning Program
Georgia Center for Continuing Education, Suite 193
Athens, GA 30602-3603
Phone: 706-542-3243
Toll-free: 800-877-3243
Mercer University
ILLINOIS
Education Justice Project
Population Served: Incarcerated men at Danville Correctional Center who have completed a minimum of 60 hours of coursework in the lower-level courses.
Program Description: The Education Justice Project of the University of Illinois offers advanced undergraduate courses to qualified men incarcerated at Danville Correctional Center, a men’s medium-high security prison about forty miles from the Urbana-Champaign campus. EJP’s mission is to create a model university-in-prison program that demonstrates the transformative impacts of higher education upon incarcerated people, their families, the communities from which they come, and society as a whole. The Illinois Department of Corrections makes GED courses available at Danville and other state prisons. Danville Area Community College(DACC) has offered lower-division courses. The University of Illinois’s program picks up upon where DACC leaves off; offering upper-division courses to ones who seek to continue their education past the Associates’ level.
INDIANA
Purdue University North Central at Westville Correctional Facility
David Crum dcrum@pnc.edu
Director, Correctional Education Programs
(219) 785-5440
Diane Borawski dborawski@pnc.edu
Post-Secondary Education Coordinator
(219) 785-5359
Population Served: Incarcerated students at Westville Correctional Facility
Program Description: Academic Program leading to Associate Degree in Organizational Leadership & Supervision; Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Studies
Oakland City University Prison Ministries Projects
Contacts: Dr. Bernard Marley: bmarley@oak.edu
Population Served: Incarcerated students in Indiana correctional facilities
Branchville Correctional Facility
Madison Correctional Facility
Miami Correctional Facility
Rockville Correctional Facility
Newcastle Correctional Facility
Indiana Women’s Prison
Program Description: Preparing people to serve others — OCU’s motto is: Enter to Learn, Go forth to Serve
Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program (Plainfield & Indianapolis)
Steve Hinnefeld slhinnef@indiana.edu
IUB University Communications
812-856-348
Roger Jarjoura rjarjour@iupui.edu
Susan Hyatt suhyatt@iupui.edu
Correctional Facilities Served: Plainfield Re-Entry Educational Facility and Indiana’s Women’s Prison – Incarcerated students and IUPUI students
Program Description: UPUI faculty members Hyatt and Roger Jarjoura completed Inside-Out instructor training in the summer of 2006. Hyatt is an associate professor of anthropology in the School of Liberal Arts. Jarjoura is an associate professor of criminal justice in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The first Inside-Out class in Indiana took place at the Plainfield Re-Entry Educational Facility in 2007.
Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program (Bloomington)
Instructor Micol Seigel mseigel@indiana.edu
Population Served: Incarcerated students at Putnamville Correctional Facility
Program Description: Micol Seigel, IU Bloomington assistant professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies, completed Inside-Out Instructor Training in the summer of 2009 and launched the first IU Bloomington Inside-Out course this spring with the help of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis faculty members Susan Hyatt and Roger Jarjoura. The course is the first involving IU Bloomington in the Inside-Out program, which brings together students and incarcerated people — “outside” students and “inside” students — for a college-level course in which people from different backgrounds learn together as peers.
Grace College Prison Extension Program
John Teevan, Director teevanja@grace.edu
Roger Krynock, Coordinator krynocrl@grace.edu
Brian Ramsey, Coordinator ramseybj@grace.edu
Tami Green, Secretary greents@grace.edu
Population Served: Incarcerated maximum-security individuals within the Indiana Department of Corrections
Program Description: The Prison Extension Program is part of the institution’s School of Adult and Community Education and operates as a contractor with the State of Indiana’s Department of Corrections (DOC) to provide post-secondary education to qualifying incarcerated people.
Corrections Education Program (CEP)
Kathleen White swhite12@indstate.edu
Interim Director and Coordinator (Putnamville)
Phone: 812-237-8398
Population Served: Incarcerated individuals within the Indiana Department of Correction’s Putnamville Correctional Facility, Plainfield Correctional Facility, Rockville Correctional Facility, Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, and the Terre Haute Federal Correctional Complex
Program Description: The mission of the Correction Education Program is to extend the programs and services of the University to support individuals in Indiana’s Correctional Facilities. The ISU mission applies to two specific student groups, benefiting both correctional staff and approved incarcerated populations as identified by the Department of Corrections.
IOWA
Grinnell Liberal Arts in Prison Program
Emily Guenther, Program Coordinator
Population Served: Incarcerated students in the Newton Correctional Facility
Program Description: “As a teaching and learning community, the College holds that knowledge is a good to be pursued both for its own sake and for the intellectual, moral, and physical well-being of individuals and of society at large.” — Grinnell College Mission Statement
The Liberal Arts in Prison Program extends these convictions to incarcerated students at local prisons in order to engage them in experiences of new knowledge, respectful exchange of ideas, and progressive levels of achievement. The college believes this program supports the work of corrections staff to protect communities and transform lives, making the prisons safer, and preparing incarcerated people to return renewed to their families and communities.
KANSAS
Lansing Correctional Facility Program at Donnelly College
mary@donnelly.edu (Assistant to President’s Office)
Population Served: Students of any category – Lansing Correctional Facility;
minimum, medium or maximum security are eligible, as long as they have a record of good behavior.
Program Description: Donnelly College offers an on-site Associate Degree program to incarcerated students of the Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Kansas. As a Catholic institution, it believes that the program has a Christian aim to assist prisoners and directly complements the school’s founding mission “to provide education and community services with personal concern for the needs and abilities of each student, especially those who might not otherwise be served.”
After earning accreditation for a second, satellite campus in 2001, Donnelly began offering classes at Lansing Correctional Facility. Since then, more than 325 students have taken courses: 14 have earned associate degrees and 155 (or 48% of former students) have been released from prison.
LOUISIANA
Louisiana State University
Independent & Distance Learning
1225 Pleasant Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Phone: 225-578-2500
Toll Free: 800-234-5046
Population Served: Incarcerated Students of any federal correctional of state detention facility nationwide; as long as they have a record of good behavior.
Dr. Norri Grubbs, John Robson
Population Served: Incarcerated students AT Angola Prison who scored satisfactorily on a pre-college exam given by NOBTS staff, and additionally hold a high school diploma or a GED.
Program Description: New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS), Judson Baptist Association, and the Louisiana State Penitentiary planned and organized a program of theological training for church leaders at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola during the summer of 1995 and was established in August of that same year.
MASSACHUSETTS
Boston University Prison Education Program
Jenifer Drew, Ph.D., Director
Boston University Prison Education Program
c/o Undergraduate Student Services
Department of Applied Social Science
808 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA
617-353-2000, direct: 617-243-2196
PrisonEd@bu.edu
Population Served: Incarcerated men and women in BU program at MCI/Norfolk; MCI/Framingham; MCI/Bay State and a few Harvard sociology students
Program Description: The Boston University Prison Education Program was founded by labor organizer, tenant activist, and poet Elizabeth Barker. Together with BU President John Silber, Barker worked to have the Boston University Prison Education Program offer its first credit-bearing college courses at MCI/Norfolk, in 1972. In 1989, the Prison Education Program expanded to a second medium-security prison for men (MCI/Bay State), and by 1991 included MCI/Framingham Massachusetts’ only penal institution for women. BU continues to be a nationally recognized leader for its contribution to the lives of prisoners in the Program, and by extension, its contribution to the prisons they inhabit, the families they left behind, and the communities to which they will return.
Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program (Northampton & Ludlow)
http://www.insideoutcenter.org/
Simone Davis, Kristin Bumiller, and Martha Saxton (current professors in the program)
Program Description: Amherst College and Mount Holyoke college professors Kristin Bumiller and Simone Davis adopted the Inside-Out model developed by Lori Pompa, who began the program to try to remove the boundaries created by classism, racism, and the stigma attached to incarceration. Under the Inside-Out model, college students and incarcerated students with all varying levels of prior education can enroll in courses at local jails. There are equal numbers of inside and outside students.
Population Served: People who are incarcerated at Hampden County Correctional System and Hampshire County House of Corrections (also currently exploring expanding the program to other county facilities in the region)
MICHIGAN
Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP)
The Prison Creative Arts Project
University of Michigan
3187 Angell Hall
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
pcapinfo@umich.edu
734-647-6771
Program Description: Founded in 1990, The Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) is committed to original work in the arts in Michigan correctional facilities, juvenile facilities, urban high schools, and communities across the state. PCAP’s process is guided by respect and a spirit of collaboration in which vulnerability, risk and improvisation lead to discovery. PCAP make possible the spaces in which the voices and visions of the incarcerated can be expressed. The program is housed in the Department of English language and Literature, and supported by English and the School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. The following is taken from the program’s mission statement, “we believe that everyone has the capacity to create art. Art is necessary for individual and societal growth, connection and survival. It should be accessible to everyone. The values that guide on process are respect, collaboration in which vulnerability, risk, and improvisation lead to discovery and resilience, persistence, patience, love, and laughter.”
Correctional Facilities Served: individuals incarcerated in Michigan (Michigan prisons and juvenile facilities), and the formerly incarcerated
MINNESOTA
Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program (St. Paul)
Jennifer J Wingren
Associate Professor
School of Law Enforcement & Criminal Justice
763-657-3760
LECJEC
St. Paul, MN
jennifer.wingren@metrostate.edu
Population Served: The incarcerated at Dakota County Jail
Program Description: The School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice has held two successful classes at the Dakota County Law Enforcement Center. The Inside-Out program brings college students and incarcerated people together in a seminar setting to study criminal justice issues.
The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program is a dynamic partnership between institutions of higher learning and correctional systems. It is designed to deepen the conversation about and transform approaches to understanding crime, justice, freedom, inequality and other issues of social concern.
Minnesota Correctional Education Foundation (MCEF)
1450 Energy Park Drive, Suite 200
St. Paul, MN 55108
651- 361-7200
School Improvement and Accountability
Goal 1: Create a learner-focused education system designed to close the achievement gap and produce mastery learning for all DOC offenders.
Quality Program and Services
Goal 2: Develop and deliver all DOC programs at the highest quality level. Transition Success
Goal 3: Prepare each student for a successful transition to school, the workplace and life in their community.
Leveraging Technology
Goal 4: Integrate technology into the education program and improve operations, delivery of programs and support services.
Correctional Education Presence
Goal 5: Advance correctional education’s presence through active collaboration, beneficial partnerships and enhanced public awareness.
Facility Locations
MCF-Faribault, 1101 Linden Lane, Fraribault, MN 55021, 507-334-0700
MCF-Lino Lakes, 7525 Fourth Avenue, Lino Lakes, MN 55014, 651-717-6100
MCF-Oak Park Heights, 5329 Osgood Avenue North, Stillwater, MN 55082, 651-779-1400
MCF-Rush City, 7600 525th Street, Rush City, MN 55069, 320-358-0400
MCF-Saint Cloud, 2305 Minnesota Blvd SE, St. Cloud, MN 55379, 320-240-3000
MCF-Shakopee (Women), 1010 West 6th Avenue, Shakopee, MN 55379, 952-496-4440
MCF-Stillwater, 970 Pickett Street, Bayport, MN 55003, 651-779-2700
MCF-Willow River/Moose Lake, 1000 Lake Shore Drive, Moose Lake, MN 55767, 218-485-5000
MISSISSIPPI
University of Mississippi – “Ole Miss”
Mailing Address:
Ole Miss Online
P.O. Box 1848
University, MS 38677
Physical Address:
617 All-American Drive
371 Martindale Student Services Center, Suite M
University, MS 38677
Phone: 662-915-1267
Fax: 662-915-1221
Online degree programs: omo@olemiss.edu
Individual Courses: online@olemiss.edu
We are committed to providing quality online teaching and learning opportunities at the University of Mississippi. The goal of Ole Miss Online is to:
· Partner with academic departments to identify and develop comprehensive distance education programs and to increase course offerings,
· Empower Ole Miss colleagues to create quality online courses and continually enhance online courses through faculty development that fosters personal and professional growth,
· Utilize technologies as tools to enhance academic instructions and connect people within the university community,
· Increase awareness of online learning to the Ole Miss community, and
· Provide high quality support services for faculty and student
MISSOURI
Saint Louis University Prison Program
Kenneth L. Parker Director: Prison Program
314-977-2861
Mary Gould Assistant Professor: Communication
314-977-3546
Devin Johnston Associate Professor: English
314-977-3013
Co-directors Prison Arts and Education Program.
Population Served: Incarcerated men and prison staff at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center
Program Description: Theology professor Kenneth Parker, Ph.D., founded the SLU Prison Program after watching a story on 60 Minutes about a similar effort at Bard College in New York. With the approval of University administrators and state officials — as well as funding from the Incarnate Word Foundation — SLU began offering a certificate in theological studies to incarcerated people in early 2008. Fifteen incarcerated students completed the five-course program in May 2010.
University of Missouri
Parent Link (Parenting Information for Incarcerated Parents)
College of Education
Phone Toll-free: 800-552-8522
NEW JERSEY
Prison Teaching Initiative
Andrew Nurkin
Senior Program Coordinator
Pace Center, Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
609-258-9746
anurkin@princeton.edu
Jill Knapp
Professor of Astrophysical Sciences
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
609-288-3824
gk@astro.princeton.edu
Population Served: Incarcerated individuals from the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility and Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility
Program Description: Mark Krumholz started the program, now called Prison Teaching Initiative, partly because of his experiences as a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught math and science courses at San Quentin State Prison in a long running program that offered about a dozen classes per semester. PTI has grown slowly since, and now offers 9-10 courses per semester which supplement other courses taught by paid instructors from Mercer County Community College. The College of New Jersey has recently joined the partnership.
Partnership for Religion and Education in Prison (PREP)
Margaret Quern Atkins mquern@drew.edu
PREP Coordinator
Drew Theological School
856-952-5140
Population Served: Incarcerated students from Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women (Clinton); Northern State Prison for Men (Newark) and theological students from Drew
Program Description: PREP is a theological educational program that creates opportunities for a joint theological learning environment between theological students and students within State correctional facilities. Based in several models of prison educational programming across the country, PREP forges new partnerships between places of theological learning, organizations with educational programs in the prisons, and correctional institutions. PREP uses contextual education and tenets of practical theology as it offers Drew’s theological students, faculty, and practicing ministers a chance to connect with the outside world through meaningful pedagogical methods. Through combined classrooms, a diverse student body can interact and engage with one another in meaningful academic discourse.
The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Center for Prison Outreach and Education
Celia Chazelle chazelle@tcnj.edu
Population Served: Juvenile and adult “youth” offenders under age 35 at targeted facilities such as Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility, Garden State Youth Correctional Facility (both in Bordentown NJ), and other central NJ detention centers. The population of the principal facilities, AC Wagner and Garden State, consists of males ages 18-35 at minimum, medium, and maximum levels of security.
Program Description: TCNJ Center for Prison Outreach and Education coordinates and oversees new Associates degree tracks and a year-round, non-credit academic enrichment and tutoring program for incarcerated people of Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility and Garden State Youth Correctional Facility. It provides varied educational experiences in other penal institutions in central New Jersey, as well.
NEW YORK
New York Theological Seminary Master’s of Professional Studies Program
Dale Irvin (President of NYTS) dirvin@nyts.edu
Population Served: Incarcerated people serving at Sing Sing, Green Haven, Arthurkill, Fishkill, Mid-Orange, Eastern, and Woodbourne Correctional Facilities possessing a high school diploma or its equivalent and are engaged in ministry or community service while incarcerated. All faiths are welcome.
Program Description: In 1981, Ed Muller, a Pastor and chaplain at Green Haven Prison and KarelBoersma, a pastor and volunteer at Green Haven, came to Dr. Webber with a request that the seminary create a curricular extension program for incarcerated Christians and Muslims of strong faith who had a desire to provide pastoral care inside of the prison. They claimed that pastoral care needs were so great that outside chaplains could not address them all. Dr. Webber agreed and collaborated with Rev. Dr. Earl Moore, Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Corrections, responsible for Ministerial and Family Services, and an NYTS alumnus, to create a Master in Professional Studies (MPS) degree for incarcerated people.
Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program (Poughkeepsie)
Program Website:N/A
Vassar professors:
Mary Shanley shanley@vassar.edu
Eileen Leonard eileonard@vassar.edu
The Inside-Out Program at Taconic is coordinated through Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison
Population Served: Incarcerated women Taconic Correctional Facility for Women and Vassar students
Program Description: The two professors, along with 10 Vassar students, traveled from Poughkeepsie to the medium security women’s prison in Bedford Hills, Westchester County, once a week during the spring 2009 semester to join with 12 incarcerated students for a two-and-a-half hour class.
Unique Features: The course marks the first time that the DOCS in New York State has permitted a mixed classroom of traditional college students with the incarcerated as part of a curriculum for college credit.
Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison
http://www.hudsonlink.org
Sean Pica, Executive Director
spica@hudsonlink.org
914-941-0794
P.O. Box 862
Ossining, NY 10562
914-941-0794
info@hudsonlink.org
Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison
Population Served: Men and women who are incarcerated at Fishkill, Sing Sing and Sullivan Correctional Facilities for Men and Taconic Correctional Facility for Women; requirements include either a GED or high school diploma. We also assist Hudson Link graduates after they are released from prison.
Program Description: Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison provides college education, life skills and re-entry support to incarcerated men and women to help them make a positive impact on their own lives, their families and communities, resulting in lower rates of recidivism, incarceration and poverty.
Unique Features: Hudson Link has expanded its programming to include a pre-college program to prepare potential students for the rigors of obtaining a college degree. Hudson Link Alumni work as tutors and mentors to the pre-college students.
Cornell Prison Education Program
Dr. James (Jim) Schecter, Executive Director
607-255-2852
Robert Turgeon, Faculty Director ert2@cornell.edu
Population Served: Incarcerated women of Bedford Hills Correctional Facility; Applicants to the program take placement examinations in basic mathematics, reading comprehension, and essay writing. Depending upon their scores, they are either placed into non-credit preparatory courses or matriculate directly into credit-bearing classes.
Program Description: The Cornell Prison Education Program was established to provide college courses to incarcerated students at a maximum and medium security prison in upstate New York, and to engage Cornell faculty and students with the vital issue of the country’s burgeoning incarceration population. The Cornell Prison Education Program is dedicated to supporting incarcerated persons’ academic ambitions and preparation for successful re-entry. We believe that Cornell faculty and student engagement as instructors at correctional facilities manifests Ezra Cornell’s commitment to founding an institution where “any person can find instruction in any study.”
Population Served: Incarcerated men and corrections staff at Auburn and Cayuga Correctional Facilities
Bedford Hills College Program
Aileen Baumgartner, Director abaumgartner@mmm.edu
914-241-3100 ext. 4514
Program Description: Through the Bedford Hills College Program, Marymount Manhattan College offers non-credited College-preparatory courses and credit-bearing courses leading to Associate of Arts degrees in Social Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Sociology at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a New York State maximum-security prison for women.
In 1995, laws were passed preventing federal monies from being used for educating the incarcerated, causing many prison programs across the country to close their doors – including the one at Bedford Hills. A task force, chaired by then-superintendent Elaine Lord and comprised of education specialists and the incarcerated at the facility, found that the impact of higher education substantially reduced re-incarceration rates. To re-establish the college program without state and federal funding, the taskforce created a consortium of schools that would donate funds and faculty to continue the college program.
Unique Features: In addition to supplying the necessary classroom space, the correctional facility supplies room for a learning center that contains the college’s computer lab and the on-site library, staffed by a dedicated coterie of volunteers from the Bedford Hills area.
Bard Prison Initiative (BPI)
Daniel Karpowitz, Director of Policy & Academics
karpo@bard.edu
Max Kenner, Executive Director
kenner@bard.edu, 845-758-7308
Bard College
PO Box 5000
Annandale-on-Hudson
NY 12504-5000
Population Served: Women and men who are incarcerated at the Eastern Correctional Facility, Woodbourne Correctional Facility Elmira Correctional Facility, Green Haven Correctional Facility, otBayview Correctional Facility; students must have a GED or high school diploma and program administrators cap admission at 15 spots each year.
Program Description: BPI offers college inside three long-term, maximum-security prisons and two transitional medium-security prisons. Founded in 1999 by former Bard student Max Kenner, BPI gives men and women the opportunity to earn a degree from Bard College, a highly regarded private liberal arts university. Providing curriculum in line with a traditional liberal arts program, BPI offers Associate’s and Bachelor’s degrees and holds classes identical to those taught at Bard College at Annandale-on- Hudson. The admissions office on Bard’s traditional campus makes decisions about acceptance into the Bachelor’s program based on an incarcerated student’s perceived preparedness and regardless of class size at the correctional facility. Incarcerated students are required to have a Bard Associate’s degree before they can apply to the Bachelor’s degree program. BPI now enrolls nearly 200 women and men fulltime in a rigorous and diverse liberal arts curriculum, offering both associate and bachelor degrees.
John Jay College/CUNY
Prisoner Reentry Institute
The mission of the Prisoner Reentry Institute (PRI) at John Jay College of Criminal Justice is to spur innovation and improve practice in the field of reentry by advancing knowledge; translating research into effective policy and service delivery; and fostering effective partnerships between criminal justice and non-criminal justice disciplines.
jjay.cuny.edu
For more information, please contact Director Ann Jacobs
555 W. 57th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-484-1399
OHIO
Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program (Cincinnati)
Peg Hubbard hubbard@xavier.edu
Department of Criminal Justice
513-745-3518
Christine Shimrock shimrockcm@xavier.edu
Facilitator, Inside-Out Class
513.706.1177
Population Served: Incarcerated men and Xavier students; The men at Lebanon Correctional Institution (LeCI) go through the same screening process as Xavier students. They fill out a similar application and are interviewed by the same panel. The intention of the instructors is to choose a mix of students (race, socioeconomic, opinions, criminal history, education, etc.) to ensure class discussion is enriched by varying viewpoints.
Program Description: The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program is a semester-long overview of current social justice topics, taught inside a local prison. Curriculum includes exploration of why people commit crime; what prisons are for; analysis of the Criminal Justice system; punishment and rehabilitation; victims and victimization; restorative justice; myths and realities of prison life.
Inside/Outside (ISOS)
Jefferson James jefferson@cdt-dance.org
Population Served: Adults from River City Correctional Center with substance abuse issues who would otherwise be sent to Ohio penitentiaries.
Program Description: Inside/Outside began in February 2001 with the participation of individual artists and collaborating organizations in an intensive training conducted in Cincinnati by the Pat Graney Dance Company of Seattle. The training involved Cincinnati participants in the creation of an integrated arts program for women at River City.
Ohio University College Program for the Incarcerated (CIP)
Ken Armstrong, Director of Independent Study
740-593-2910
independent.study@ohio.edu
Haning Hall 222
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701
800-444-2420
800-444-2910
Population Served: People who are incarcerated
Program Description: Since 1974, the College Program for the Incarcerated (CPI) has provided incarcerated men and women with courses and degree opportunities to further their educational goals. Ohio University seeks to meet the diverse needs of incarcerated distance learners. Through CPI, both associates and bachelor’s degrees are available. Each student is assigned an academic advisor to assist in successfully planning a degree program.
Although CPI cannot offer financial aid to incarcerated students, or the option of partial payments, a significant discount through the Comprehensive Fee Plan is offered. Some students may qualify for VA benefits. Ohio University is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The College Program for the Incarcerated is administered by the Office of Independent Study.
Zane State College
Linda Applegarth (Interim Coordinator of Prison Education)
Population Served: People who are incarcerated at the Belmont Correctional Institution
Program Description: The College provides instructors who offer credit courses in two short-term certificate programs.
OREGON
Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program (Salem, Wilsonville, and Portland)
Julie Kopett, Director of Education
Amy Spring, Assistant Director of Community-University Partnerships
Population Served: People who are incarcerated at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility
Program Description:Portland State University, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Clackamas Community College and Lewis and Clark College all have educational programs that they offer in prisons throughout the Portland metro region and down the I-5 corridor. These colleges and universities offer courses that students enrolled in their institutions take with people who are currently in custody. The courses are on a variety of topics but typically deal with issues of social justice and equity. The courses are free or very low cost to inmates.
PENNSYLVANIA
The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program (Philadelphia)
Temple University
Suite 331, MB 66-10
1810 Liacouras Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19122
Phone: 215-204-5163 | Fax: 215-204-3872
insideout@temple.edu
Population Served: Prisons and jails in 25+ states – In each program branch: 9-18 campus-enrolled undergraduates and 9-18 incarcerated (or sentenced) students (in equal numbers)
Program Description: Headquartered at Temple University, The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program® is a national program that offers semester-long, college classes behind bars to groups of students of whom half are incarcerated and half are college students from outside. These seminars are offered in many academic disciplines, but they always emphasize collaboration, critical thinking, and dialogue, with course themes usually focusing on the study of some aspect of our society’s approach to crime and punishment. Every year at least three week-long intensive instructor training institutes prepare faculty from around the country and abroad to build effective correctional-academic partnerships in their home region, to find means to offer credit to inside students wherever possible.
This work is fundamentally shaped by the perspectives of people in prison.
Community College of Allegheny County
Distance Learning Center
800 Allegheny Avenue; Room 123
Pittsburgh, PA 15233
412.237.2239
fax: 412.237.8187
Proctored testing fax: 412.237.8187
online learning 412-237-8700
For incarcerated individuals: any prison administrator such as a warden or medical administrator, a prison counselor or prison librarian
RHODE ISLAND
Rhode Island Department of Corrections Education Unit
Ralph Orleck Ralph.Orleck@doc.ri.gov
Population Served: Incarcerated individuals at any Adult Correctional Institution
Program Description: Participants have the opportunity to earn college credits for various liberal arts and/or business offerings in classes offered by the community college. Course offerings vary by semester. Academic requirements of the AA degrees are followed to enable students to attain the AA degree while incarcerated or allow them to continue to pursue the AA degree upon release. Vocational post-secondary offerings vary by semester and lead to the obtainment of trade related certificates of completion and/or licenses as applicable.