Prison Education and Reentry Commons^™

The Open University And Prison Education In The Uk – The First 50 Years, Rod Earle, James Mehigan, Anne Pike, Dan Weinbren

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry

In 2019, The Open University (henceforth, The OU), based in Milton Keynes in the UK, celebrated its 50th anniversary. Since 1971 it has pioneered the delivery of Higher Education in prisons and other secure settings. Some 50 years on, in 2021 there is much to celebrate and still more to learn. In this article we briefly review the establishment of the OU in 1969 and explore how it has maintained access to higher education in the prison system. It draws from a collection of essays and reflections on prison learning experiences developed by OU academics and former and continuing OU …

When ‘Inside-Out’ Goes ‘Upside-Down’: Teaching Students In A Jail Environment During The Covid Pandemic And Implications For The Use Of Correctional Technology Post-Pandemic, Kimberly Collica-Cox

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry

The transient population of county jails pose unique challenges for program implementation and maintenance. This past year, the spread of COVID-19 substantially increased such challenges, particularly since most correctional institutions are opposed to using Internet-based technologies, such as Zoom, in the secure part of their institution. Although college programming is rare in most jails, Inside-Out type classes, which allow college students to take a credited course alongside the incarcerated in a correctional setting, is a great way to provide a missed opportunity for purposeful intervention for the incarcerated, while providing a unique experiential learning opportunity for traditional undergraduate students. Based …

Strengths-Based Compassion As An Agent Of Change For Incarcerated Youth: Positive Psychology Interventions Proposed For Colorado's Division Of Youth Services, Rachel Olsen

Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Capstone Projects

The youth corrections system is in need of reform. Emerging work from the field of positive criminology is working to shift the focus from retribution and risk management to strengths building and positive youth development. Research suggests, targeted strategies from positive psychology can provide youth with opportunities to counteract the potentially deleterious effects of incarceration, especially as adolescent neurobehavioral development offers a ripe opportunity for positive interventions that enhance wellbeing. Strengths-based compassion, the proposed positive intervention described within, uses mindfulness, character strengths, and the cultivation of compassion to improve self-regulation and self-discipline, increase self-esteem, improve social skills, and reduce recidivism. …

Parental Incarceration And The Costly Effects On Their Children, Briana Rae Zocher

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

The purpose of this project is to bring awareness to the silent victims associated with parental incarceration – their children. Throughout this project, the focus will be aimed towards promoting the education of the effects of parental incarceration and the impact it has on their children in a variety of compacities and how those settings influence incarceration amongst children of incarcerated parents. In addition, this paper will discuss parental incarceration in three different lens views: administrative, ethical, and legal. First, the administrative lens pertaining to leadership and evolution to successful leadership, especially the critical component of crisis communication strategy. Second, …

“Press Charges”: The Intersection Of Art Class, White Feelings, And The School-To-Prison Pipeline, Albert Stabler

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

I reflect on the decade I spent as an art teacher in a Chicago high school where so-called "behavioral issues" are rampant, as well on my experience working with incarcerated adults, in order to explain the concept of the school-to-prison pipeline with the aid of recent research on discipline and policing. I go on to talk about a September 2019 thread in an art teacher group on Facebook. On this thread, predominantly white teachers overwhelmingly called for a teacher who was hit while breaking up a fight to press charges against the student who struck him, purportedly for the student’s …

Victim Impact: The Manson Murders And The Rise Of The Victims’ Rights Movement, Merrill W. Steeg

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Teaching Creativity: A 21st Century Reentry Skill, Cynthia Sepulveda

Creative Studies Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project reflects a search to identify the creativity tools that will enable returning citizens to solve problems and make better decisions so that they can live satisfying and productive lives outside of prison walls. My personal creative journey through this process contributed to the content, highlighting the necessity of resiliency as an important skill for returning citizens who have spent large amounts of time incarcerated. Improv theater was identified as a useful tool to encourage resiliency in a fun, non-threatening way.

Understanding Aspiration And Education Towards Desistance From Offending: The Role Of Higher Education In Wales, Mark Jones, Debbie Jones

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry

There has been a growing recognition of the value of education in facilitating desistance from offending. Yet, despite a determined push to “widen access” universities continue to be an unwelcoming place for those with a criminal record. To better understand the role of higher education in raising aspiration towards desistance, this paper draws on findings from a study in Swansea, Wales. Adopting a Pictorial Narrative approach the findings suggest that, whilst the participants identified potential benefits of attaining a higher education, those aspirations were outweighed by a distrust of the “institution” and a fear that the stigmatisation experienced through the …

Career Preperation Capstone, Jennifer M. Combs

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University on April 14, 2021.

Demands For “Sisterly” Love: Exploring The Hyperpenalization Of Black Girls In The School District Of Philadelphia, Danielle Miles-Langaigne

CUREJ - College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal

An immense amount of research, memos, and scholarship has surfaced in the last decade considering the school-to-prison pipeline and Black boys’ involuntary participation in it. Various education scholars have presented data emphasizing how Black male students are disproportionately punished–notably in ways that negatively impact their prospects for educational attainment, social mobility, and long-term empowerment. Many, however, fail to consider their close counterparts: Black girls. This thesis expands upon the Crenshaw, Ocen, and Nanda (2015) report to see if Black girls are also disproportionately penalized in Philadelphia public schools within the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) at higher rates relative to …

Barriers To Post-Secondary Success, Douglas Swanson, Najeana Henderson, Maritza Sloan

Dissertations

This study reviews factors that prior studies have identified or failed to consider as barriers to post-secondary success. The three main areas include academic success for Latinx students after high school, organizational systems and their impact on African-American students’ postsecondary readiness, and what workers think of their high school education with regards to career preparedness.

Five factors are identified as major barriers for Latinx students to continue in a higher education system. A survey of former students from Saint Louis, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas, metroplex area identified 56 Latinx students that participated in an initial survey. This led to a …

Close Encounters: Mass Incarceration Tactics, Kevin L. Jones

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

As a Black man living in America, my Christian faith walk began at an early age. Growing up in a suburban environment, I had several encounters with law enforcement that shaped my belief system. These encounters were and still are a stark reminder that Black boys and men are under attack. Policing negatively impacts Black boys and men when compared to other races of people. I realized that I was in their cross hairs and I was almost consumed by the criminal justice system on many occasions. Through the lens of Critical Race Theory, this work focused on the centrality …

What Can Be Taught In College In Prison? Reconciling Institutional Priorities In Clashes Over Incarcerated Students’ Access To Instructional Materials, Magic M. Wade

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry

This research was inspired by allegations of censorship of college curricula in an Illinois state penitentiary. This example highlights the confusion and controversy that may ensue when disagreements arise over what students in prison-based college programs are permitted to read and learn. Following this, my research considers these relevant questions: First, do many programs and prisons encounter disagreements over certain instructional materials? Next, to what extent are these rooted in clashing institutional values and priorities? And finally, what can be done to quell controversy, reduce confusion, and strengthen relationships between colleges and prisons? To shed light on these questions, I …

Volume 6 #3 Full Issue

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry

Full Issue

The History Of Denying Federal Financial Aid To System-Impacted Students, Bradley D. Custer

Journal of Student Financial Aid

People who are impacted by the criminal justice system (“system-impacted”) face barriers when seeking financial aid to pay for college. Between the late 1960s and the early 2000s, Congress created laws that prohibited incarcerated students and students with certain criminal convictions from receiving federal grants and loans. This paper offers a comprehensive review of the history of those laws, which provides context for current debates on restoring Pell Grants to students in prison. Legislative documents, scholarly sources, and news reports were studied to build this historical review. Key lessons from history are discussed as to how Congress might treat system-impacted …

Challenges And Successes Teachers Experience Educating Incarcerated Youth: A Mixed-Methods Approach, Morgan Crozier

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This study explores the educators’ perspectives on their experiences providing academic services and supports to incarcerated youth placed in short-term juvenile detention centers and how they perceive success and challenges in this environment. The study used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods research design while incorporating tools such as a questionnaire, interviews, and reflective journal activities to get a deeper understanding of the experiences educators encounter in this role. The questionnaire consisted of 38 questions designed to address the demographics of the teachers participating in the study, their teaching experience with incarcerated youth, professional development received, and the challenges and successes they …

Stigmatizing Labels, School Bonds, And Capital In The School Reentry Experiences And Educational Outcomes Of Justice-Involved Youth, Peter S. Willis

Theses and Dissertations

Research indicates that justice-involved youth who reenter public and alternative schools following contact with the juvenile justice system struggle to find a place in the school community and complete their educations. Because educational attainment affects recidivism rates, successful school reentry for justice-involved youth presents important research questions for policy and practice. This study examined school reentry through cases studies of adults who had been justice-involved youth and had experienced school reentry following contact with the juvenile justice system. Study participants’ school reentry experiences were examined through a theoretical framework comprised of labeling, social control, and field theories. Findings suggest that …

Raw And Pure Education In The Society, Iwasan D. Kejawa Ed.D

Educational Administration: Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research

What does education mean to individuals in the world today? Education is a way one can attain or improve his or her ability to lead and survive in the society of ours. Without educational training of the mind, it may be impossible to realize the importance of adaptability of living in the environment. Without education, It may also be difficult to embellish the use of both the mental and physical attributes possessed by individual beings.

What really is education? Education is the training of the mind to perform desire functions or to perpetuate the modality of obtaining an end or …

Lead Editor's Welcome, Cormac Behan

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry

Lead Editor's Welcome, Volume 6 Issue 3.

An Ecological Approach To Improving Reentry Programs For Justice-Involved African American Men, Precious Skinner-Osei, Peter Claudius Osei

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry

This article is a re-analysis of a previous study (please see https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2017.1402724). Considering the previous findings, in addition to the recent discussions around criminal justice reform, race, policing, and mental health in the United States, the data were reanalyzed using an updated version of QSR NVivo. The new findings revealed that reintegrating justice-involved African American men back into society requires reentry programs to utilize a different approach. Reentry programs must be constructed under the notion that the process involves multiple interrelated components that interact with larger systems outside the individual or organization's immediate control or organization advocating for them. …