The Field of Higher Education in Prison

Ithaka S+R designed a playbook to help correctional education leaders center student learning as they navigate the education technology landscape. The guide, created with support from Ascendium Education Group and in dialogue with several correctional education leaders, provides decision-making tools and frameworks to assist leaders as they consider how to implement new education technology in prisons. 

The playbook includes:

• A framework to help correctional leaders clarify goals and objectives for implementing education technology
• A downloadable set of tools and interactive exercises to guide strategy and strategically plan decision making
• Considerations about the benefits and drawbacks of using different technologies for education
• Ranges of technical specifications to help leaders compare devices

Our aim with the playbook is to provide strategies and approaches that will make it easier to incorporate new education technology to improve educational outcomes, educational equity, and student educational experiences. While the playbook was designed with correctional leaders in mind, we hope it will be of broader value to the higher education in prison field.

While end-of-course surveys are standard in most colleges and universities, they’re often designed for traditional students and overlook the unique needs of incarcerated students and the educators who serve them. This guide bridges that gap, offering evaluation questions tailored to the prison education context. Developed with input from students enrolled in prison education programs, it’s a tool to help ensure course evaluations are both meaningful and relevant. 

This guide was developed in collaboration between the Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network and Doug Walcerz, the Provost and Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs at Lee College. 

The annual newsletter from the State University of New York's Office of Higher Education in Prison (SUNY HEP) details SUNY HEP programs and degrees, and includes an interview with Chancellor John King Jr., graduation highlights, and alumni and faculty highlights. 

This series of essays from the State University of New York (SUNY) showcases the stories of SUNY students and others connected to higher education in prison—stories that inspire, challenge, and enrich their communities. By sharing these lived experiences, SUNY aims to illuminate the broader significance of prison education programs and garner the support needed to expand SUNY's exceptional offerings, ensuring equitable access to higher education for all incarcerated individuals.

This resource details key elements of successful strategies in proposing and conducting jail-based research.

This user-friendly Language Matters Guide builds on Jobs for the Future's 40 years of experience in the education and workforce ecosystem. The guide offers suggestions on how to write and speak about people in ways that promote equity, dignity, and a focus on each individual's potential—rather than labeling them based on the systemic barriers they face.

Topics covered include skills and socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, criminal justice, and more. Because language is fluid, the recommendations will evolve. 

Postsecondary education programs in prisons collect data on their students to inform program planning; assess students’ academic progress and outcomes; and meet institution, government, and funder reporting requirements. Also, programs applying to the U.S. Department of Education to become an approved prison education program (PEP) must include documentation in their application showing that their postsecondary institution has entered into an agreement with the oversight entity (typically a state department of corrections [DOC]) to obtain data on the transfer and release dates of incarcerated individuals. This resource walks you through the process of establishing consistent access to relevant DOC data on students who are incarcerated through the use of data use agreements (DUAs), also known as data sharing agreements (DSAs), with their DOC partners.

This press release details the U.S. Department of Education's announcement of a new path for borrowers who are incarcerated to exit default through consolidation, providing them access to improved credit and to better repayment options than ever before. Borrowers who had student loans before becoming incarcerated can now consolidate their loans to get out of default, providing them with certain types of loans—including Perkins Loans and commercially held Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFEL) loans—to gain access to income-driven repayment (IDR) plans like the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan. Borrowers who are incarcerated can still sign up for Fresh Start until September 30, 2024, as an additional option to exit default. Previously, this population of borrowers would have to rehabilitate their loans to get out of default, rather than having the option to consolidate.

Accessing high-speed internet in correctional settings can serve as a conduit for incarcerated individuals to receive vocational and technology training programs and set them on a path to success. This recorded webinar highlights state and local examples of how leaders in this space are creating economic development opportunities for justice-impacted individuals and how they are defining their digital equity baselines, indicators, and goals, as well as tools they use to measure success. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on rehabilitative programs, including education programs, that are provided in state prison systems. State and federal correctional systems implemented a variety of policies to prevent or contain the spread of COVID-19 within this population. As part of this response, many correctional systems ceased or substantially cut back on programming starting in 2020; this included shutting down ongoing education and workforce training programs, as well as other programs and activities, and preventing instructors and other staff from entering prison facilities.

This report presents the authors' findings on how COVID-19 has affected prison education programs within state correctional systems from 2020 through 2023. The overall goal was to collect critical information to help inform educators, colleges, corrections officials, and policymakers about the magnitude of the pandemic's overall impact and its effects on access to education programs.

This news article from Open Campus is a guest essay written by Lyle C. May, a prison journalist in North Carolina. In the essay, Mr. May writes about how gaining access to education on death row gave him the tools to fight back against policies that restricted that access.

This news article focuses on the experiences of Lyle C. May, a prison journalist in North Carolina. Lyle writes about how gaining access to education on death row gave him the tools to fight back against policies that restricted that access.

Written by Open Campus staff reporter Charlotte West, this biweekly newsletter from Open Campus is about the future of postsecondary education in prisons. This online archive contains PDF versions of previous issues of the newsletter.

This news article from Open Campus describes the experiences of an incarcerated student using an illicit cell phone to take college courses from prison. The person interviewed is incarcerated in the South and currently works as a hospice volunteer and mentors justice-involved young adults. No identifying information is included in order to protect him from potential consequences for possessing a contraband cell phone.

In this radio segment from NPR and WBUR's Here & Now, Deepa Fernandes speaks with Jennifer Lackey, the founding director of the Northwestern Prison Education Program. This segment runs approximately 8 minutes and 50 seconds.

This article from Reuters announces the graduation of the first class of incarcerated students from Northwestern University's Prison Education Program on November 15, 2023.

"Twenty years ago, some of these guys were in rival gangs, and here they are swapping poetry with each other and giving critical engagements on sociology assignments," said Professor Jennifer Lackey, the program's founding director. "The love and growth that we see in the community is really unlike anything I've experienced at the on-campus commencements."

This article from Illinois Public Media covers the passage of the Higher Education in Prison Act in the Illinois legislature. 

The state will now provide annual public data on enrollment, demographics, and waitlists for higher education programs in Illinois prisons.