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Prisoner Art Takes Public Spotlight

At the University of Washington in Seattle, the Quad recently featured its second annual art exhibition of prisoner’s artwork. Organized by Huskies for Opportunities in Prison Education (HOPE) in partnership with University Beyond Bars and the Monroe Correctional Complex, the exhibition featured visual arts and written pieces, as well as a 6 by 9 foot

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Report Documents U.S. Recidivism Rates for Federal Prisoners

The U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC), an independent agency within the judicial branch that writes federal sentencing guidelines and studies federal crime and sentencing policies, on March 9 released a major new study, ‘Recidivism Among Federal Offenders: A Comprehensive Overview’. Drawing on data on more than 25,400 former inmates who were either released outright from federal

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The Argument for College in Prison

The concept of providing a college education to American prisoners is nothing new. As  early as 1953, a few select prisons permitted such educational programming. But it wasn’t until 1965, and Title IV of the Higher Education Act, that prisoners were permitted to obtain the funding of Pell Grants for their college studies. It was

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Georgia Governor Seeks More Funds for Prison Education

The state of Georgia has earmarked education for prisoners as a top budget priority on two fronts – by enrolling more inmates in GED certificate programs and also by creating new job skills training to help prisoners find work once they are released.

In a January 19 appearance before the Joint Appropriations Committee of the Georgia state legislature, Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, now halfway through his second four-year term, outlined his plans to add almost $5.7 million to the budget in order to expand educational opportunities in the state’s jails and prisons.

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Let’s get prison education on U.S. presidential election agenda

In case there was ever any doubt, yet another groundbreaking study confirms our staunch belief that education is the key to reducing recidivism in America. A report by The RAND Corporation, a respected research think-tank on public policy, sheds some interesting light on the grim reality of the failings of the United States prison system.

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What Saudi Arabia has done right in their penal system

It’s hard not to read the first paragraph of this article and not think it’s the script for a lost episode of Monty Python: “A total of 5,843 inmates in Saudi prisons, including a number sentenced to death, are preparing for the two-week midterm examination period scheduled to start next Sunday.” But beyond the bizarre

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The Fine Arts of prison education

Slowly but surely, it feels like change is coming when it comes to prison education. Indeed, it can feel like an uphill battle many days, but that’s why it’s so important to enjoy stories like these. Ten years ago, prison reform wasn’t even on most legislators’ radars, let alone the public’s. Fast forward to today,

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The JPay giveth, while the JPay taketh away.

News about the JPAY tablet seems to be making the rounds again, even hitting the BuzzFeed wire. The articles have been focused on the special tablets they’ve created to be used in the prison setting (see initial coverage here). We wrote about this critical innovation in prison education some time ago because there’s little doubt

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Australian program seeks to break the recidivism cycle through education

Prisoners in the state of Victoria, Australia, will be part of new plans designed to try and meet prisoners’ educational needs immediately upon entry into the system. The $78 million (AUD) program aims to dramatically improve prisoner access to instruction from a variety of universities, colleges, and institutes across the region. Of particular note is the

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