College for the Incarcerated Book News: New Prison Education Books in the Works

By Christopher Zoukis
While it is still early yet, I have an announcement to make concerning my book Education Behind Bars: A Win-Win Strategy for Maximum Security.  As you know, Sunbury Press published this title in early 2012 to rave reviews from the prison presses.  Since its publication, we’ve been approached by several publishers, who are enthusiastic to give this project new life and enhanced exposure; two of which are McFarland and Company and Prisology.  I’d like to touch upon both today.
As you know from previous posts, I decided to divide Education Behind Bars into two books: one for academics and one for prisoners.  This way both texts could be completely revised and updated, then more effectively marketed to their target markets.  Well, the revisions are now complete on both books and publishing contracts have been signed for both, too.
McFarland and Company picked up the academic book and are publishing it under the title College for Convicts: The Case for Higher Education in American Prisons.  And Prisology has picked up the prisoner correspondence guide, which is tentatively titled College for the Incarcerated.  Both publishers seem enthusiastic about the projects.
If you’re interested in the academic version (for the general public and law makers), please head over to McFarland and Company’s sales page for College for Convicts, where you can pre-order your copy today.  This book will be out either late this year or early next year.
If you know someone in prison and would like to purchase the prisoner correspondence guide College for the Incarcerated (tentative title), then stay tuned to Prison Education News, where we’ll be publishing periodic status updates.  This book is currently in the editorial phase where we and the team at Prisology are making final content and structural decisions prior to moving forward to the copyediting stage.
The field of prison education is one stagnated by some official inertia.  It’s hard to open new programs, convince prison administrators and law makers that existing programs should remain, and it’s even harder to sell the idea of educating prisoners to the public.  These are the facts, cold as they might be.  But there is also good news.  We at Prison Education News have worked hard to keep a light burning bright for the prison education industry.  It has not been easy, it has not always been fun, but it has been necessary, and these two books are the culmination of all of our hard work these past few years.  And with this thought, we ask you to help support our efforts — and prison education programs everywhere — by showing your support and pre-ordering a copy of College for Convicts.  This will help to support our efforts at prison education promotion, and will result in the allocation of additional marketing funds from our publishers to these much needed books.