MIDDLETOWN Conn. (WTNH) — U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visited Middlesex Community College and Cheshire Correctional Institution on Tuesday as part of a trip highlighting Second Chance Pell Grants.
The grants fund higher education opportunities for incarcerated individuals.
In a roundtable discussion at Middlesex Community College, Cardona heard from former inmates and educators who have participated in prison education programs.
Jason Torello, a formerly incarcerated person who earned his associate’s degree while serving a prison sentence, said access to education while in prison was life-changing.
Torello, who was in prison for 13 years, saw a flyer for the program on the wall and saw it as an opportunity to do something meaningful while he was incarcerated.
Torello went on to study at Weselyan University, graduating with a degree in music. He now works as a sound designer and advocate for the formerly incarcerated.
“It changed my entire life, I would say,” Torello said.
Cardona said he was deeply impacted by the conversations he had at Cheshire Correctional Institution and at the community college.
“What I heard today were folks who were incarcerated who now have a belief in themselves that they can contribute — getting skills to be able to be employed and support their communities, support their families,” Cardona said.
Cardona is a Connecticut native, former assistant superintendent in the Meriden school system, and the former commissioner of the Connecticut State Department of Education. He was appointed to his current role by President Joe Biden in 2021.
Gov. Ned Lamont echoed Cardona’s sentiments and added his thoughts on the positive impacts of prison education programs.
“We desperately need everybody able to work, get back into the workforce,” Lamont said. “I love the fact that this program works and recidivism is down. Crime is down. What a difference it makes.”
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