Washington – U.S prisoners will soon be eligible for federal grants to take college courses online, a Justice Department official said on Tuesday.
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The Justice Department and the Department of Education will announce on Friday a limited pilot program for incarcerated Americans to apply for federal Pell grants.
The program builds on efforts from the White House to provide pathways out of prison by reducing sentences and giving second chances to those who have served time.
Obama recently commuted the sentences of 46 prisoners and became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison when he traveled to El Reno, Oklahoma.
Unlike student loans, Pell grants do not have to be repaid.
A 2013 study from the RAND Corporation found that prisoners who take education courses are 43 percent less likely to return to prison within three years than those who did not participate in programs.
Online learning platforms have opened up the possibility of enrolling in college courses for prisoners.
The Education Department will put out a call for proposals for colleges and universities that want to participate in the programs, said the Justice Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the program had not yet been announced.
Criminal justice reform has recently gained traction across party lines.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Republican Senator Charles Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has plans to introduce a criminal justice bill before Congress takes its August recess.
Instead of prisons, let’s have maximum security universities. We could sentence murderers to a doctorate in comparative literature. That would be a longer and harsher punishment than life!
A good move.
I had the pleasure of working with one of the western world’s more prominent criminologists, who is now retired and in his late 60s. At age 19 he was sentenced to 20 years to life for a murder committed by a codefendant during a robbery. Ten years later he walked out of the New Jersey State Prison after earning his BA from Rutgers University, part of it on furlough trips to attend courses in New Brunswick. He went on to earn a Doctorate, has authored a number of books and countless articles on correctional criminology…in addition, he has been on the faculty of several prominent colleges.
A man of sterling character, he said to me more than a few times that his rehabilitation journey could not be made today, as “law and order” legislation has over the years removed just about all serious education programs from American prisons – yonasonw note: Legislation invariably authored and pushed by legislators pandering to constituents, but having no expertise at all in anything having to do with corrections.
Sounds like a cheaper route than going to law school.
Our criminal justice system obviously isn’t working. This van be worse than what we have now.
let them stay in prison until they master calculus 2 and physics 400 with 100% accuracy, medical school and engineering school. Then when they finally do come out 30 years later, they will be well educated and OLDER, and have less energy to do more crimes.