Prison Education and Reentry Commons^™

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 …

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 …

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

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, 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 …

Research Justice: A 25 Year Reflection On Critical Participatory Action Research Behind Bars, Michelle Fine, María Elena Torre, Kathy Boudin, Cheryl Wilkins

Publications and Research

In this chapter, we introduce the notion of research collaboratories where critical inquiry-based collaboration – not experimentation – flourishes; where critical participatory action research (CPAR) projects are conceived and implemented across universities and communities/movements to build theory, transform policy, support social change and forge new solidarities. In these spaces, academics, policy makers, community members, students and activists design research projects together, pool intentionally diverse standpoints, integrate qualitative, quantitative, archival and historic evidence to probe questions of (in)justice, enacting - No Research on Us, Without Us!

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 (2014-2023)

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. …

Grassroots Tales: Journeys Of Inward Healing And Outward Movement Building – “A Story Of Youth Development And Healing”, Andrew Cory Greene

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Rooted in Liberation Psychology epistemology, this dissertation was engaged to liberate myself as well as psychology. Positing Healing Justice and Sociopolitical Development as theoretical guides, this dissertation explored a community specific approach of radical healing to develop urban youth’s abilities to sustain (build) spirit and collective hope for grassroot movement building. This dissertation asks, what are the possibilities of bringing urban youth (n=9) together who shared similar realities, dared to dream together (i.e., think tank), and turn those dreams into a Grassroot Movement Building?

The methodological praxis of this dissertation project was politically and theoretically situated to study learnings at …

“You’Re Almost In This Place That Doesn’T Exist”: The Impact Of College In Prison As Understood By Formerly Incarcerated Students From The Northeastern United States, Hilary Binda, Jill D. Weinberg, Nora Maetzener, Carolyn Rubin

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This qualitative study examines the immediate and lasting impact of liberal arts higher education in prison from the perspective of former college-in-prison students from the Northeastern United States. Findings obtained through semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated people are presented in the following three areas: self-confidence and agency, interpersonal relationships, and capacity for civic leadership. This study further examines former students’ reflections on the relationship between education and human transformation and begins to benchmark college programming with attention to the potential for such transformation. The authors identify four characteristics critical to a program’s success: academic rigor, the professor's respect for students, …

Gaps In The Mental Health System,Justice System And The Transition To Adulthood: An Analysis Of Unmet Needs, Maria Gremli Sanders

Dissertations

ABSTRACT More than two million adolescents and young adults are interconnected with the justice system every year. An alarming number of transitional age young adults (ages 17-25 years) in the United States justice system suffer with serious emotional problems that have at least one diagnosable mental health illness. The multiple needs for rehabilitation among these young adults have often gone unmet, and thus, they have become an extremely vulnerable subgroup in the justice system. The purpose of this study was to explore issues of disparity within mental health services, the justice system, and the unmet needs of transitional age young …

A Study Of Incarcerated Youth: How Does Interest Affect Comprehension And Engagement, Grace Mutti

Honors Projects

Current research explores the relationship between high-interest reading material and comprehension in classrooms as well as the impact of literacy on recidivism; however, there is a shortage of research on effective instructional reading practices for incarcerated youth. This qualitative study examines the experience of five white, male incarcerated youth as they experience one-on-one reading instruction from five of BGSU’s pre-service teachers. Instructional strategies used in the study were modeled off of an online program called A-Z Reading and focused on developing students’ fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. The study initially aimed to examine the impact of high-interest materials on the …

See, Judge, Act: Restorative Justice And Catholic Social Teaching’S Impact On American Incarceration, Maxim Caron

Montserrat Annual Writing Prize

No abstract provided.

Public-School Systems Are Criminalizing Our Young People: Giving Voice To The Marganilized, Carrie Stoltzfus

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

A phenomenological qualitative study using Critical Race Theory and counter-storytelling was completed to investigate what K-12 public schools should be doing to keep young people out of the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP). This study took place in a large city in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Interviews were completed with former students of the researcher who were previously incarcerated, educational professionals, and justice system professionals. Additionally, observations of the court systems and document reviews were completed in order to triangulate findings. Themes emerged around factors that lead to incarceration and the preferred practices to support young people to avoid …

Innovative Phone-In Radio Program For Prisoners Enrolled As Students At Indira Gandhi National Open University, Sivaswaroop Pathaneni Dr

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

Providing education to prisoners while in jail is a win-win situation for both prisoners and society. For prisoners, the educational experiences in jail reduce their mental strain, isolation, and stress due to incarceration and simultaneously make them employment ready after their release from prison. Education helps prisoners become fit to earn on their own, and thereby reduces the chances of returning to jail (recidivism). Therefore, through educational experiences, the government saves money on prisoners' maintenance and earns taxes from their later employment. Providing education to prisoners, especially increasing efforts to provide quality education, such as is available to common students, …

Free Battered Texas Women: Survivor-Advocates Organizing At The Crossroads Of Gendered Violence, Disability, And Incarceration, Cathy Marston Phd

Verbum Incarnatum: An Academic Journal of Social Justice

This article recaps my symposium presentation, where I argue that feminist organizing strategies are central to healing our society and creating restorative justice from my perspective as a survivor of occupational injury, battering, and criminalization for self-defense. This includes the creation of Free Battered Texas Women. We prefer to think of ourselves as survivor-advocates who use a variety of tactics to empower ourselves, incarcerated battered women, and citizens. These strategies include pedagogy; poetry and other written forms; art; and legislative advocacy. I blend this grassroots activism with feminist disability theory, radical feminist theory, feminist ethnography, and feminist criminology.

An Organizational Analysis Of Foreign National Prisoners’ Participation Possibilities In Flanders (Belgium), Dorien Brosens, Flore Croux, Bart Claes, Stijn Vandevelde, Liesbeth De Donder

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This mixed-method study first provides insight into the Belgian prison population — particularly foreign national prisoners — based on an analysis of the penal database SIDIS Suite (N = 10,356). Second, qualitative telephone interviews have been conducted with the activity coordinators of all Flemish and Brussels prisons (N = 17) to investigate which prison activities (e.g., cultural, educational, and health-related activities, sports, vocational training, and forensic welfare services) are available to, and accessible by foreign national prisoners. This article demonstrates several initiatives that have been taken to enhance foreign nationals’ participation in prison activities and highlights the struggles that activity …

Replacing Death With Life? The Rise Of Lwop In The Context Of Abolitionist Campaigns In The United States, Michelle Miao

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

On the basis of fifty-four elite interviews[1] with legislators, judges, attorneys, and civil society advocates as well as a state-by-state data survey, this Article examines the complex linkage between the two major penal trends in American society during the past decades: a declining use of capital punishment across the United States and a growing population of prisoners serving “life without the possibility of parole” or “LWOP” sentences. The main contribution of the research is threefold. First, the research proposes to redefine the boundary between life and death in relation to penal discourses regarding the death penalty and LWOP. LWOP …

Relationships Between Education Track, Adverse Childhood Experience, And Recidivism Among Juveniles, Catherine Gammage

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A high recidivism level, despite attempts by regulatory agencies and various institutions to decrease it, is currently a disturbing problem of the juvenile justice system. Adjudicated youth released from residential treatment centers are often reincarcerated within 3 years after their release. Residential treatment centers provide mandated educational and treatment services for all incarcerated youth. The educational programs offered by residential treatment centers should include academic and career technology programs which support community reintegration. The opportunity for students to receive a high school diploma and industry certifications for career readiness is an important way to decrease recidivism for juveniles. This study …

Undergraduate Students As Job Mentors To Support Youth Transitioning From Incarceration, Theresa A. Ochoa, Niki Weller, Molly Riddle

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

Helping Offenders Prosper through Employment (HOPE) is a university-based mentoring program that trains undergraduate students to serve as job mentors to incarcerated youth serving a sentence in Indiana’s juvenile correctional facilities. The purpose of this article is to describe HOPE’s mission, principles and components, underscoring how undergraduates are prepared and serve as credible role models to incarcerated youth during and after confinement to improve community reentry. This article is intended for practitioners interested in implementing evidence-based peer mentoring in juvenile correctional facilities as well as scholars interested in the study of factors that reduce juvenile recidivism.

“It’S About Whose Voices Matter”: Reflections On Insider/Outsider Status In Prison Classrooms, Rachel Rose Tynan

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

Based on the author’s experience of teaching on a higher education project in two English prisons - one for men aged 18-30 and one for women aged over 21 - the article considers how critical reflection on prison norms encourages authenticity and respect in the classroom. These elements provide a foundation for students to negotiate conflicting subject positions and meanings and build critical thinking skills. Both prisons and universities are risk averse and bound by structured approaches to risk and authority that may impact the development of such relationships. The author reflects on how conflicts and collaboration in both classrooms …

Turning Gender Inside-Out: Delivering Higher Education In Women’S Carceral Spaces, Giulia Federica Zampini, Linnéa Anna Margareta Österman, Camille May Stengel, Morwenna Bennallick

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This article is a critical reflection of the role of gender in the delivery of a higher education course based on the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Programme. Related concepts such as hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity, and intersectionality are discussed within the prison education setting. This reflection primarily draws on critical incidents from the experiences of the first three authors facilitating a higher education course in a women’s prison in England. One major reflection is that learning in a group of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ students, all self-identified women, who vary along the dimensions of age, class, ethnicity, nationality and sexual expression, presented unique …

"People Like Me Don’T Belong In Places Like This." Creating And Developing A Community Of Learners Beyond The Prison Gates, Helena J. Gosling Dr, Lawrence Burke

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

It is widely accepted that individuals with criminal convictions experience multiple disadvantage and deprivation, and, as a result, are considered least likely to progress to higher education (Unlock, 2018). The risk-adverse nature of higher education application processes further compound such disadvantage, even though there is no evidence to suggest that screening for criminal convictions increase campus safety (Centre for Community Alternatives, 2010). Drawing upon ethnographic data, the discussion critically reflects upon the development of one situated Learning Together initiative based within a University in the north-west of England. In doing so, the discussion highlights a series of emerging opportunities and …

Skinning The Cat: How Mandatory Psychiatric Evaluations For Animal Cruelty Offenders Can Prevent Future Violence, Ashley Kunz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

In 2017, the Texas legislature amended Texas Penal Code § 42.092, which governs acts of cruelty against non-livestock animals. The statute in its current form makes torturing, killing, or seriously injuring a non-livestock animal a third degree felony, while less serious offenses carry either a state jail felony or a Class A misdemeanor charge.

While a step in the right direction, Texas law is not comprehensive in that it fails to address a significant aspect of animal cruelty offenses: mental illness. For over fifteen years, Texas Family Code § 54.0407 has required psychiatric counseling for juveniles convicted of cruelty to …

Reforming Recidivism: Making Prison Practical Through Help, Katelyn Copperud

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

While Texas has long been recognized as “Tough Texas” when it comes to crime, recent efforts have been made to combat that reputation. Efforts such as offering “good time” credit and more liberal parole standards are used to reduce the Texas prison populations. Although effective in reducing prison populations, do these incentives truly reduce a larger issue of prison overpopulation: recidivism?

In both state and federal prison systems, inmate education is proven to reduce recidivism. Texas’s own, Windham School District, provides a broad spectrum of education to Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmates; from General Education Development (GED) classes to …

Dmt And “The Man Box:” Provoking Change And Encouraging Authentic Living, An Arts-Based Project, Steven Reynolds

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explores the mind-body experience through an arts-based research approach to examine, and redefine the emotional capacity and usefulness of males through societal determinants that limits and hinders men from living their authentic selves. Through the lens of a metaphoric “Man Box” 112 men participated in a workshop recreating their personal narratives of socialization through, style of dress, coping mechanisms, belief systems and who they should be as men through society's standards. In the “Man Box,” male bonding, and emotional feelings are discouraged, while the objectification of women, material property and physical/emotional strength are encouraged. This research investigates the …

Breaking The Chains: Reversing The School-To-Prison Pipeline Through The Academic Experiences Of Formerly Incarcerated Black Males, Folasade Ogunbanwo

Master's Theses

This case study explores the academic experiences of formerly incarcerated Black males. The goal of the case study is to inform policymakers and critical race scholars who take interest in the prison-to-school pipeline and ultimately dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. The historical impact of slavery has manifested into this vicious pipeline and the overrepresentation of Black males in the prison industrial complex. This case study is to demonstrate how the net is casted on those affected by the incarceration system and that break the cycle for themselves by pursuing an education to create an upward academic trajectory.

Living With Hiv After Release From Prison: An Evaluation Of The Long-Term Health Of Formerly Incarcerated Individuals Who Used Michigan’S Community Reentry Service, Robin L. Miller Phd, Danielle Chiaramonte, Miles Mcnall, Jason Forney, Patrick Janulis

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

In 2003, Michigan implemented a reentry service to assist HIV-infected people incarcerated in state prisons in linking to HIV medical care immediately upon their release. We examined whether formerly incarcerated people were linked to care successfully, remained in care, and were in good health 3 years after their date of release. In all, 190 people used the service over the 5 years following its inception. Only a minority of those who were alive and not reincarcerated at the time of the evaluation engaged consistently with medical care. Unsurprisingly given low rates of engagement in care, 3 years after their release …

Support Services For Formerly Incarcerated Students, Janelle Brown-Peters

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The purpose of my study was to improve and/or create support services for formerly incarcerated students at the University of San Diego. I sought to discover first if there were any existing support services available for these students at USD. I also sought to discover what kinds of support services existed at other local colleges and universities in order to compare and contrast with USD. Through 1:1 interviews, surveys, focus groups, and community restorative justice organizations, I learned that USD was one of the only higher education campuses in San Diego not currently providing support services for this population of …

What Is The Role Of The Prison Library? The Development Of A Theoretical Foundation., Jayne Finlay, Jessica Bates

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

There has been little examination of how criminological theory may help to inform library practice in correctional settings. This article takes steps to address this deficit by presenting a new and timely approach to prison library research. It suggests that situating prison library research within the disciplines of librarianship, education and criminology can lead to a deeper understanding of the contribution made by libraries to the lives of those in prison. The authors propose a theoretical model which draws on theories of desistance, informal learning theories and critical librarianship. This model can be used by both library and education researchers …

Sr. Barbara Joanne: Prison Ministry, Amayrani Lopez

Ask a Sister: Interview Wisdom from Catholic Women Religious

This paper includes an interview with Barbara Joanne, a woman part of a Roman Catholic religious congregation and a teacher for about 20 years, and her experiences with prison ministry.