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U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and U.S. Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) toured the Westville Correctional Center (WCC) in Westville, Indiana on August 15th as guests of Indiana Corrections Commissioner Robert Carter and Warden John Galipeau. Housed inside this combined minimum-medium-maximum-security prison is an in-prison college education program taught by more than 35 professors from Holy Cross College and the University of Notre Dame, and it is funded in part by the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program.
This is the second visit this summer by DeVos to a Second Chance Pell Program prison. She visited the Dick Connor Correctional Center in Hominy, Oklahoma, on June 25, 2017 where approximately 100 men earned an associates or bachelor’s degree, workforce-related credential, or honors for classroom work. On Thursday, DeVos reiterated her support for college-in-prison programs after touring WCC, tweeting, “These students are seizing the opportunity to turn their lives around by pursuing education while incarcerated and preparing themselves for careers upon release.”
Senator Braun also shared his thoughts, concluding, “Education and vocational training are key to keeping inmates from returning to prison after release.”
The appearance of DeVos and Braun at WCC signifies the importance of the Second Chance Pell Program and, at a deeper level, the role faith-based institutions play in advancing opportunities inside American prisons nationwide. The Moreau College Initiative supported by Holy Cross and Notre Dame is an example of the faith factor in prison education.
College in prison is not a new concept for these two Catholic institutions located approximately 45 miles from the Westville prison. Driven by a commitment to the social teaching of the Catholic Church, Holy Cross and Notre Dame launched an all-male program called the Westville Education Initiative (WEI) which utilizes the liberal arts to liberate incarcerated minds. Beginning in 2013,WEI allowed a select few incarcerated men who had at least a GED to pursue associates and bachelor’s degrees during their incarceration. Indeed, the faculty shared during the Thursday visit with DeVos and Braun that they are looking for incarcerated students who have the equivalent academic capacity of any other prospective student, since the coursework at WCC reflects the same rigor as their main campuses. Holy Cross used private funds to pick up the $10,000 per class cost. Upon release from WCC, a WEI student can take courses on the main campus at Holy Cross or transfer to another postsecondary institution in Indiana or elsewhere.
Years later a faculty steering committee at Holy Cross and Notre Dame renamed WEI the Moreau College Initiative after the founder of The Congregation of the Holy Cross, Blessed Basile Moreau.
The Second Chance Pell Pilot Program was opened to the incarcerated on a limited basis starting July 31, 2015, as part of the Administration’s Experimental Sites Initiative. That allowed partnerships between prisons and postsecondary institutions, and more than 200 people applied. On June 24, 2016, 67 two- and four-year colleges that were granted the opportunity to educate approximately 12,000 men and women in 100 prisons in 27 states.
Holy Cross and Notre Dame were among seven faith-based institutions in that inaugural class of Second Chance Pell Pilot institutions. They see their participation in this program as an extension of their commitment to improve the lives of people. Likewise, it was clear that the corrections staff at WCC believe the program aligns with their mission to instill a constructive corrections culture, prepare men and women for higher education and workforce-related opportunities upon release, and ensure they do not return to prison.
Thankfully, this past spring, DeVos announced the expansion and extension of the program. Experimental initiatives are temporary, however, and a permanent solution would require Congress to lift the 1994 ban placed on incarcerated students’ eligibility to Pell Grants. Prior to 1994, incarcerated men and women had used Pell Grants to pay for college education for nearly 30 years.
Restoring Pell Grant access to incarcerated students, as proposed in the REAL Act, which is cosponsored by U.S. Representative Jim Banks from Indiana’s fourth district, would benefit society as a whole. An extensive RAND study showed that participants in correctional education “had 43 percent lower odds of recidivating than those who did not” and the early results from the specific Second Chance Pell sites are promising thus far. The RAND study also estimated that every $1 spent on correctional education yields $5 in savings on reincarceration costs—resources better used for innovative policing, victim care, drug treatment and prevention, and other public safety measures.
Faith-based postsecondary institutions were stakeholders in the Pell Grant-funded prison program before 1994. These institutions and people of faith continue to be driven by their values to serve those in prison and advance human dignity. For example, Prison Fellowship, the nation’s largest Christian prison ministry, equips volunteers nationwide to walk alongside incarcerated men and women in an intensive, biblically based Academy program and to serve nearly 300,000 children of incarcerated parents through their Angel Tree program. Prison Fellowship believes serving those behind prison walls is a tenant of the Christian faith, as is advancing justice that restores.
We are thankful for the 60-plus Second Chance Pell sites across the county. Many are praying that this transformative opportunity will be made permanent by Congress to all men and women behind bars ready to put in the work to become law-abiding, responsible citizens. Our values compel us to invest in this opportunity, and the impact on our culture and public safety, both inside and outside prison walls, will be the dividends we yield as a result.
Heather Rice-Minus is Vice President of Government Affairs and Church Mobilization at Prison Fellowship.
Faith-based postsecondary institutions were stakeholders in the Pell Grant-funded prison program before 1994.
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