Part Five: Where is prison education going?

Incarcerated individuals at Pendleton Correctional Facility participate in a reentry simulation on Aug. 20, 2024, teaching them life skills for their impending release. Photo Credit: Pendleton Correctional

By Anna Kezar

Since prison education deals with diverse and numerous issues, the ways it could be improved and expanded are multi-faceted.

How Education Affects Reentry

Employment training contributes to successful reentry. An individual can receive education, but if they don’t have the skills to get a job and keep it, then it is a waste, according to Danielle Cox, corrections education chair for the Coalition for Adult Basic Education.

Those who have been incarcerated for over 10 years face difficulties with using technology that did not exist before they were incarcerated. With many job applications being online now, it is crucial for those incarcerated to receive training in digital literacy.

“You can teach people how to do that job, but it is hard to also then teach them how to use a computer,” Cox said. “You can't do any job without a computer, and a job is not going to give somebody the time of day if they don't have those basic digital literacy skills.”

Training includes not only how to use computers and smartphones, but also skills like writing emails and presenting professionally.

In addition to digital literacy skills, other life skills such as managing money, finding housing, securing transportation and making healthy choices also must be part of reentry preparation and implemented within the first year of release.

“States just really have to invest in reentry,” Cox said.

Increasing Data Sharing

Effective evaluation of prison education considers the outcomes of individuals who have reentered after completing education.

“We’ve got to know what they did after prison to know if what we did during prison worked,” Cox said.

Increasing collection of data and sharing it nationally is crucial to improving current education programs, according to Cox.

“You have to know the bad to do better…” Cox said. “We can always do better and the only way we can do that is if we have open data sharing and analysis.”

Technological developments in the past two years have made extensive data sharing more accessible. The American Job Center’s Wagner-Peyser program through the U.S. Department of Labor uses a data system to connect job seekers with relevant employment and businesses with qualified employees.

A similar system is used to look at the factors connected to recidivism and determine exactly why individuals return to prison. It can also track where those who are released end up later, whether they were employed long term or returned to prison. The more comprehensive the data, the better correctional education programs can place individuals in programs and prepare them for jobs.

“In the hopes that they don't return to prison, we need to look more broadly at why they come back to prison, not just that they did or not, right?” Cox said. “So, we're no longer only looking at recidivism as a factor. We've got to look at it, but in connection with all those other things.”

Moreau College at Westville

The Moreau College Initiative at Westville Correctional Facility gives incarcerated students the opportunity to earn an associate or Bachelor of Arts degree.

Students are selected through an essay exam and interview process. About 90 students are in the program at a time and 25 to 30 are chosen every year.

Within the liberal arts degree students can choose a concentration in business, humanities, social studies or science. It typically takes a student 2.5 years to complete an associate degree and four years to complete a bachelor’s degree.

About 20 faculty and 10 to 15 volunteers run the 60 classes offered every year – 25 in the spring and fall semesters and 10 during the summer. The classes are taught by part-time instructors from Holy Cross and Notre Dame, among others. Five classes are held every day in one of three time slots, usually with 15 students in each.

Moreau College is a collaboration that began in 2013 between Holy Cross College, University of Notre Dame and the Indiana Department of Corrections. The college receives funding from the Second Chance Pell Grant as well as through partner institutions, grants and the IDOC.

Justus Ghormley began as the assistant director of Moreau College in 2019 and is in his second year as director. He outlines the reasons he believes the program is impactful.

“Face-to-face interaction is a huge part,” Ghormley said. “We would not have success if we were remote.”

In-person classes provide meaningful interaction with the instructor and among the students. Additionally, Moreau College students are able to live in a dorm together, giving the students an opportunity to bond in a community of fellow learners.

“I would encourage other schools to do the same,” Ghormley said.

All courses use primary text and the instructors are required to maintain the academic standards and rigor of the classes, according to Ghormley. This encourages students to work toward their potential.

Moreau College strives to offer all the benefits of a college experience. The classes include guest speakers and workshops. Extra-curricular clubs in business, gardening and film are offered, as is a writing center operated by students.

Through partnership with Notre Dame’s alumni and career development, the college strives to help students network and find employment post-release. Holy Cross has hired a Moreau College alumnus with the hopes of employing more in the future.

“People there [in prisons] have incredible gifts and potential to be leaders and thinkers in society,” Ghormley said. “They just never had the chance to be nurtured.”

The philosophy is that supplying a liberal arts education helps the students grow as human beings, according to Ghormley.

Through interaction with the humanities, students encounter different perspectives and experiences while evaluating their own. They develop confidence, empathy, respect and communication abilities – all skills incarcerated individuals consider key to their success post-release, according to a survey of Moreau College students.

“It’s a pretty powerful medicine for those whose lives have been brought into suffering,” Ghormley said. “To say it’s a transformative education is not an overstatement.”

With the expansion of Pell for incarcerated individuals, Moreau College could be a model for other post-secondary programs in the future.