Why Postsecondary Correctional Education is a Bipartisan Issue
Channel: R Street Institute
Date: 2020-05-29

As the number one incarcerator in the world, the United States held just under 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons at the end of 2018. Given that most incarcerated people will one day be released, it is vitally important that time spent behind bars is conducive to their rehabilitation.

Fortunately, research and anecdotal evidence suggests correctional education—more specifically, postsecondary education—can facilitate individual transformation while also improving public safety and public expenditures. Unfortunately, a ban on Pell Grants, instituted as part of the 1994 Crime Bill, has since severely restricted incarcerated individuals’ access to such educational opportunities.

Please join the R Street Institute for a discussion about the importance of increasing access to postsecondary correctional education with a specific focus on how and why this issue is bipartisan. The conversation will address the importance of a “clean lift” of the Pell Grant ban for incarcerated students as well as the importance of education in prisons in a post-pandemic society.

Panelists:
David Jimenez, The Prison Fellowship
Frank Russo, National District Attorneys Association
Jarrod Wall, PhD student in Sociology at Tulane University
Trelaine Ito, Legislative Assistant, Office of U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI)

Moderator:
Jesse Kelley, Manager, Criminal Justice & Civil Liberties

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