U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona visited Connecticut Tuesday to highlight a program that provides college-level programming for people who are incarcerated.
Cardona visited the Middlesex campus of CT State Community College to celebrate the initiative, a partnership between Wesleyan University, the state community college system, and the Connecticut Department of Correction.
“With great leadership and great educators and leaders at the state level here at the universities, at the community colleges, and in our correctional facilities, I know we can continue to raise the bar,” Cardona said.
The program provides six courses each semester at Cheshire Correctional Institution and three courses each semester at York Correctional Institution, taught by faculty from the two school systems.
Cardona and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont also toured Cheshire Correctional Institution earlier in the day. Lamont said he spoke with incarcerated people who told him education helps make communities safer and opens doors for people.
“We heard from two gentlemen how the opportunity to get that education while incarcerated changed their lives,” Lamont said. “What an amazing story they’re going to be able to tell.”
At a roundtable meeting, officials stressed the benefits of higher education and the importance of financial assistance programs, such as Second Chance Pell grants, which help incarcerated people pay for higher education.
Post-secondary programming like this can be difficult to access for incarcerated people.
The state’s prison system also provides educational programming, such as high school classes and vocational training. However, the system has seen recent declines in educational attainment.
A review by Connecticut Public found fewer people are getting high school diplomas, finishing vocational programs or enrolling in classes offered through the prison school system, known as Unified School District #1.
In Connecticut, half of people in prison don’t have a high school diploma, and many enter school programs with skills around a fourth or fifth grade level, according to information published by corrections officials.
Staffing shortages have hindered enrollment, a DOC representative said in an email last year. The department has been working to refill teaching positions since a round of layoffs in 2016. It also grappled with teacher retirements and safety restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many incarcerated people were released during that time, leaving a smaller pool of potential students, according to the department.
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