In this article from RealClearEducation, Rebecca Villarreal (senior director at Jobs for the Future) makes the case for prison education programs to hire more alumni upon release.

By the summer of 2023, about 700,000 incarcerated people will be eligible for the federal Pell Grant, gaining access to a critical form of college financial aid for the first time in nearly 30 years. When the 1994 Crime Bill banned Pell for imprisoned individuals, the number of higher education prison programs rapidly dwindled from 1,500 to just eight. With Pell back on the table, institutions are once again designing degree programs for prisoners. But colleges and universities can do more to ensure that the incarcerated are set up for success after their release: they can hire them. 

A biweekly newsletter from Open Campus about the future of postsecondary education in prisons. This edition focuses on technology in prisons.

This news article from Open Campus highlights key takeaways from the 2023 National Conference for Higher Education in Prison (NCHEP). 

This news article from Open Campus is a first-person essay by Leo Hylton, an incarcerated graduate student in Maine who stepped out of the prison gate for the first time in more than a decade for an unusual reason: to meet his students on the campus of Colby College. 

This news article from Open Campus explores how Kunlyna Tauch, a writer incarcerated in California, used the laptop issued to him as a student at California State University Los Angeles. It was the first computer he's used in 17 years of incarceration. 

This news article from Open Campus highlights the work of one of the first incarcerated professors in the country, David Carillo, who teaches incarcerated students in an undergraduate business program at Adams State University in Colorado.

This news article from Open Campus tells the story of James “Sneaky” White, who spent nearly four decades incarcerated in California. Mr. White's nickname “Sneaky” comes from his days as a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. While he was incarcerated, Mr. White helped create a college program that has since graduated more than 1,500 men. At the time, San Quentin was the only other prison in the state where incarcerated people could earn degrees. 

This report from the Prison Policy Initiative offers some much-needed clarity by piecing together the data about this country’s disparate systems of confinement. It provides a detailed look at where and why people are locked up in the U.S., and dispels some modern myths to focus attention on the real drivers of mass incarceration and overlooked issues that call for reform.

Scholarships, grants, and loans are some of the many options available to help you pay for your college education. But figuring out how to access and combine them can be overwhelming.

This article will help answer questions like, “How do you qualify for a grant vs. a scholarship?” and “How do you apply for student loans vs. scholarships?” Plus, it'll show you how to apply for scholarships, grants, and loans, as well as the best way to put them all together so you can save the most money.

This four-part, Emmy-nominated PBS documentary offers an intimate look at the lives and experiences of a dozen incarcerated students participating in the Bard Prison Initiative and their families. The documentary confronts and challenges conventional wisdom about the purpose of both education and incarceration.

This article was written by Katherine Mangan of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

On March 10, 2021, George Chochos, Senior Federal Policy Associate at the Vera Institute of Justice; Rev. Vivian Nixon, Executive Director of College & Community Fellowship; and Max Kenner, Executive Director of the Bard Prison Initiative, joined this webinar to discuss the historical restoration of Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students and what the return of federal student aid funding will mean for the field of college-in-prison. Over 150 attendees from across BPI’s network including alumni, supporters, and colleagues in the field joined in the webinar.

This article is a guest essay written in the New York Times by Max Kenner, founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative at Bard College. Mr. Kenner argues that the FAFSA Simplification Act "has the potential to do more good within U.S. prisons than any policy in a generation." But, he continues, the work has just begun.

This article from USA Today discusses the expansion of Pell Grants, which were eliminated in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 for incarcerated people and ended the majority of prison education programs.

The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) that are intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.

This fact sheet addresses the following:

Myth: A veteran with criminal convictions or a history of incarceration is not eligible for VA health care.

Fact: An eligible veteran who is not currently incarcerated can use VA care regardless of any criminal history, including incarceration. Only when an otherwise eligible veteran is currently incarcerated, or in fugitive felon status, is he or she not able to use VA health care.

The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) that are intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.

This fact sheet addresses the following:

Myth: Veterans cannot request to have their VA benefits resumed until they are officially released from incarceration.

Fact: Veterans may inform VA to have their benefits resumed within 30 days or less of their anticipated release date based on evidence from a parole board or other official prison source showing the veteran’s scheduled release date.

The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) that are intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.

This fact sheet addresses the following:

Myth: An individual cannot apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) benefits without a mailing address.

Fact: A person can get SNAP benefits even if he or she does not have a mailing address.

The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) andthat are intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.

This fact sheet addresses the following:

Myth: An individual cannot apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) benefits without a valid state-issued identification card.

Fact: A person can get SNAP benefits even if he or she does not have a valid state ID.

The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) that are intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.

This fact sheet addresses the following:

Myth: Individuals convicted of a felony can never receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) benefits.

Fact: This ban applies only to convicted drug felons, and only 13 states have kept the ban in place in its entirety. Most states have modified or eliminated the ban.

The Reentry Myth Busters are a series of fact sheets created by the partner agencies within the Federal Interagency Reentry Council (FIRC) that are intended to clarify existing federal policies that affect individuals who were formerly incarcerated and their families.

This fact sheet addresses the following:

Myth: Medicaid agencies are required to terminate benefits if an otherwise eligible individual is incarcerated.

Fact: States are not required to terminate eligibility for individuals who are incarcerated based solely on inmate status. States may suspend eligibility during incarceration, enabling an individual to remain enrolled in the state Medicaid program, thereby facilitating access to Medicaid services following release.