In 2012, Florida established the first online high school within a correctional facility. In 2014, it celebrated the success of that pilot program by extending it to a total of seven prisons across the state. Still, the only program of its kind, Florida’s experiment demonstrates one potential strategy for improving the educational opportunities available to
FCI Petersburg’s Education Department recently released the list of new Adult Continuing Education (ACE) courses, along with their respective instructors. To shine a light on this promising prison education program, we at Prison Education News present the list of courses: Monday ACE Classes Tuesday ACE Classes Thursday ACE Classes *All classes are held from 6:30
One of the most important concepts we advocate for in the world of prison education is the idea that inmates need to be prepared to be reintegrated back into the communities from which they came. They need to be employable, centered and have a greater likelihood of success in the modern world. This should be
Prison education is a controversial subject due to strong emotions on both sides of the issue. But it’s also an issue that has been the subject of a significant amount of published research — all of which supports the education of prisoners. According to the research, prison education has a marked effect on reducing recidivism,
Over the past several years, a number of criminal justice and social commentators have discussed the idea of shaming or guilting as an alternative sanction for minor criminal wrongdoing. They have suggested that shaming or guilting is less expensive, more effective, and allows the offender to stay in the community — thus enabling them to
Watch the first 2 minutes of Coming Home: The CARE Program, a documentary film produced by Bucknell University students for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The film focuses on a community-assisted re-entry program in the district.
It isn’t often you hear about corrections officials standing up in public and declaring that inmates who inhabit our prisons and jails are mostly people who “made a mistake that can be fixed.” It’s probably even more rare to hear about one of them retiring from the prison industry and continuing to work toward helping
Federal prisoners do not have access to word processors. Instead, we have access to typewriters and Trust Fund Limited Inmate Communication System (TRULINCS) computers which allow us to draft electronic messages — like emails, but not exactly the same — which we can send to approved contacts. Since word processors are so handy when drafting
Prison is one of the most un-fun places one can live and work. Preschools are all about fun. But both are about preparing people for the real world. Brian argues that we can unlock the future of prison education by relearning the lessons of preschool. Brian leads the offender education program for Peninsula College at
In 2015, Alabama will spend $5.4 million on its prisoner postsecondary education program, including Calhoun Community College’s courses at Limestone Correctional Facility. Five schools across the state provide college-level certifications. The Community College courses are separate from adult GED programs in the state’s prisons. According to the Alabama Community College System, in Fall 2013, 1,000