This news article reflects on Donnie Veal's journey of being a formerly incarcerated student looking for employment.
As California closes three more prisons and downsizes six others, some prisoners aren’t ready to go. They are worried about the future of their education. Newsom is closing and downsizing prisons across the state, putting the future of over a thousand incarcerated students at risk. College administrators say they have few resources to help.
As California closes three more prisons and downsizes six others, some prisoners aren’t ready to go. They are worried about the future of their education. Newsom is closing and downsizing prisons across the state, putting the future of over a thousand incarcerated students at risk. College administrators say they have few resources to help.
As Pell Grant eligibility returns for people in prison on July 1, College Inside wanted to know what the moment was like when higher education went away almost 30 years ago. They asked four lifers to share their experiences with Pell Grants before 1994, when Congress eliminated access to federal financial aid for incarcerated students, in their own words.
Their stories have been edited for length and clarity.
This news article examines how San Quentin's program, Prison to Employment Connection or P2EC, helps men learn how to put the work they've done inside into context for prospective employers. P2EC is a 14-week job-readiness training program for people who are within one year of a release date or have a scheduled parole board hearing in the next six months. The curriculum includes an assessment to help participants identify possible careers, workshops on identifying strengths and transferable skills, and résumé editing.
This news article 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.
James “Sneaky” White, 80, spent nearly four decades incarcerated in California. His nickname “Sneaky” comes from his days as a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. While he was incarcerated, he 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.
Led by the inaugural cohort of the Justice Fellows Policy Program, The Education Trust, in partnership with local higher education and justice advocates, analyzed state support for currently and formerly incarcerated students in eight states — California, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas, and developed state-specific toolkits to help advocates and policymakers tear down the remaining barriers for justice-impacted students.
Led by the inaugural cohort of the Justice Fellows Policy Program, The Education Trust, in partnership with local higher education and justice advocates, analyzed state support for currently and formerly incarcerated students in eight states — California, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas, and developed state-specific toolkits to help advocates and policymakers tear down the remaining barriers for justice-impacted students.
This report provides an introduction to services and programs available within California by collecting descriptive information about each. These programs do not necessarily represent a catalog of best practices or model programs that have been proven to be effective. Rather, this report is a starting block from which to build that analysis, and the authors suggest that as the next important stage in related research.
