Inmates can take college classes, but ...

... may have limited tech or no internet to complete coursework. Degrees can reduce recidivism.

- BY TARA GARCÍA MATHEWSON

GRADUATES of Cal State L.A.'s degree program for prisoners have a ceremony inside California State Prison in Lancaster in 2021.

Since Pell Grants have become available to people pursuing degrees from prison, every state and the Federal Bureau of Prisons has tried to expand access to higher education.

What they haven't all done, however, is create a learning environment that supports college-level study. Some states still ban inmates from almost all technology, leaving students to get by with textbooks and paper assignments. Others don’t give students computers, forcing them to write term papers on tablets that lack external keyboards. When students have the right technology, internet access becomes the barrier, as safety risks surrounding how people might abuse it outweigh educational opportunity.

Getting a degree is one of the best ways to reduce the chances of ending up back in prison after release. Some researchers have clocked precipitous drops in the recidivism rate, as this metric is called, because of educational progress and its connection to landing a good job.

But the United States’ punitive approach to incarceration clashes with the promise education holds for lower recidivism. Bidhan Roy, the director of the prison education program at Cal State Los Angeles, has studied the restorative approach in Norwegian prisons and highlights the contrast.

“The concept in Norway is that the time that you serve is the punishment, and the job of the prison is to prepare the resident to become your neighbor again,” Roy said. “When you think about it like that, it changes the goal of what you do in there. Why would you not give research skills and internet access?”

Slow progress