Why Education in Prison?


Research reveals that college-in-prison programs reduce arrest, conviction, and reincarceration rates among released prisoners. Evidence has also linked the presence of college-in-prison programs to fewer disciplinary incidents within prison, finding that such programs produce safer environments for prisoners and staff alike. College-prison programs also have benefits for inmates’ families and, hence, their communities. The strongest predictor of whether a given person will attend college is whether her or his parents did. When an incarcerated person receives a college education, whether or not s/he is eventually released, his or her children are more likely to pursue their own educations.In spite of these significant benefits, there has been a precipitous drop in college-in-prison programs around the country. There were over seven hundred degree-granting programs at their height, in the early 1990s. In 1994 the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act eliminated the use of Pell Grants for prisoners, and most prison college programs closed, including Illinois’ BA-granting programs. Bachelor degrees have not been offered in Illinois prisons since 2002.


Who We Are


Working Committee  Our Working Committee includes faculty, graduate students, and community activists with experience in correctional education and research-based knowledge of the penal and criminal justice systems.


    

  • Tage Biswalo, Ph.D. Student, Educational Policy Studies, UIUC.
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  • Tracy D. Dace, Ph.D. Student, Special Education, UIUC. Research interests: educational pathways of African American male survivors of incarceration and strength-based, action research in communities of color.
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  • Rebecca Ginsburg, Assistant Professor, UIUC, Landscape Architecture, African-American Studies, Art History, and Architecture; former instructor, Poetry Workshop, Champaign County Jail; former instructor, San Quentin State Prison College Program.
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  • Arturo Martinez, M.S.W. Student, School of Social Work, UIUC.
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  • Sarah Ross, Adjunct Instructor, Lakeland College at Danville Correctional Center and Instructional Assistant Professor, Illinois State University; volunteer, Books to Prisoners.
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  • Rob Scott, Ph.D. Student, Educational Policy Studies, UIUC; Coordinator, School for Designing a Society.
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  • William Sullivan, Associate Professor, UIUC, Landscape Architecture; Director of the University of Illinois’ Environmental Council; former instructor, Huron Valley Women’s Prison, MI.
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Advisory Committee


    

  • Sundiata Cha Jua, Director, Afro-American Studies and Research Program
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  • Jorge Chapa, Director, Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society
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  • Violet Harris, Associate Director, College of Education
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  • Jamie McGowan, Associate Director, Center on African Studies
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  • Sam Smith, Counselor, University Laboratory High School
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  • Julian Rappaport, Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology
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