There's No Rehabilitation Without Education (Part 2)
by Dortell Williams
In 1991, Senator Jesse Helms argued that prisoners were being afforded free education that many tax-paying citizens couldn’t afford, inciting a hate debate. In 1993, Senator Kay Bauley Hutchinson claimed that prisoners “received as much as $200 million in Pell Grant funds.” A year later, the hate debate had grown so fierce that Senator Claiborne Pell, for whom Basic Education Opportunity Grants were named, interceded to clarify the record, stating: “… a student qualifies for a grant, and the size of the grant depends on the availability of appropriations. Thus, the child of a police officer would not be denied a grant in favor of a prisoner. If both are eligible, both would receive grants.”
Another more accurate delineation of Pell Grant distribution to people incarcerated was published in 2004, the last year the grants were available to us. Approximately 25,000 incarcerated individuals received funding among the 4.7 million Pell Grants dispersed. Only one-half of one-percent of all grants went to people incarcerated. The average amount issued was $1400 – a mere fraction of the $200 million that Senator Hutchinson had claimed.