JHA Conference Submission on Prison Education for Colorado College

Educational access within prisons must be expanded. In Illinois, we have evidence that Correctional Post-Secondary Education has a $38.75 return on investment on every dollar for the State. Given this figure, it would stand to reason that the public and lawmakers would embrace education in prisons as a cost-saving investment of State funds; unfortunately, this is not the case. As a result, we rely on and celebrate volunteer-facilitated programs to supplement or reinstate college classes for incarcerated students, given that state budget issues and other politics have resulted in extremely limited state-funded opportunity.

Despite evidence of the effectiveness of education, prison-provided educational programing remains inaccessible to too many in custody.