Universities to offer degree programs in prisons for first time in nearly 30 years

Michigan’s four-year public universities are taking their degree programs back into prisons in the state for the first time in nearly 30 years.

Qualified inmates at U.S. prisons are once again eligible to receive annual federal grants of up to $7,395 to pay for a college education while they are incarcerated.

The renewed eligibility, which took effect July 1, was approved as part of the FAFSA Simplification Act in December 2020 and has been in the works since then.

For their part, colleges and universities can apply to offer Pell-eligible degree programs, meaning they can pull in federal dollars to operate degree programs in the prisons.

To offer degree programs that are eligible for the federal grants, colleges and universities must get approval from the Michigan Department of Corrections, the Higher Learning Commission and the U.S. Department of Education, said Kyle Kaminski, offender success administrator for the state Corrections Department.

Eastern Michigan University will be the first of Michigan’s public four-year universities to launch Pell-eligible, bachelor’s degree programs at a prison in the state. It has admitted 22 women at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, the state’s only prison for women, into the programs for the fall semester.

Western Michigan University has committed to take a four-degree program into Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, Kaminski said. And Lake Superior State University and other institutions are also talking with the Department of Corrections about launching bachelor’s or associate degree programs of their own at prisons in the state.

The Michigan Department of Corrections “is actively seeking additional partnerships and intends to increase the availability of post-secondary education programs within our system,” Kaminski said.

There is a significant amount of research that shows education can reduce the likelihood of recidivism while also increasing lifetime earnings, he said.

“As we put people on a better path post release, ultimately, we want people to be successful. And we think education is one important aspect of achieving that,” Kaminski said.

Roughly half a dozen public and private colleges in Michigan have taken part in a pilot program that launched privately funded degree programs at several prisons in Michigan in recent years. They include Calvin University, Hope College/Western Theological Seminary and Siena Heights with bachelor’s degree programs and associate degree programs from Jackson College, Delta College and Mott Community College, he said.

EMU has offered non-credit courses at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility for more than a decade, said Decky Alexander, director of Engage at EMU and professor of communications, media and theater arts.

The state’s fiscal 2024 budget includes $250,000 to help EMU launch the bachelor’s program at Huron Valley, which will build on an existing two-year degree program that Jackson College is offering there.

“(For) the individuals we’ll be teaching and working with, this is an intervention that will change the trajectory of their lives. … personally and economically … as it does (for) any of EMU’s students,” Alexander said.

EMU has admitted 22 inmates into new bachelor’s degree programs in business administration or general studies, a program enabling students to choose their own areas of focus and specialty, said Meghan Lechner, director of EMU’s College in Prison Program.

The women admitted to the program at Huron Valley either held an associate degree prior to being incarcerated or earned one from Jackson College during their incarceration.

“The Department of Corrections tells us who is eligible to apply” based on good behavior and completion of high school or GED, Lechner said.

“Anything offered in prison is offered outside, as well, and that’s on purpose” so people can complete college courses after they are released if they don’t complete the program while they are incarcerated, she said.

Incarcerated people who participate in post-secondary education programs are 48% less likely to return to prison than those who do not, according to the Vera Institute of Justice.

“We are more than just inmates, more than our mistakes,” Katherine Wright, a Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility student, said in the release.

Being able to pursue a college degree while incarcerated enables inmates to reinvent themselves and validate their worth, she said.

“Nothing worthwhile is easy and the fact that incarcerated students are held to the same standards as on-campus students sets us up to take risks, set goals, and continue our hunger for knowledge. Discipline, persistence, and support make for future leaders and respectful members of society,” Wright said.

EMU was also approved to launch a degree program at Federal Correctional Institution, Milan, a men’s correctional facility, under the pilot. It hopes to begin offering degree programs there in the near future, Alexander said.