Prison Education and Reentry Commons^™

Toward A Better Criminal Legal System: Improving Prisons, Prosecution, And Criminal Defense, David A. Harris, Created And Presented Jointly By Students From State Correctional Institution - Greene, Waynesburg, Pa, And University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law, Chief Editor: David A. Harris

Articles

During the Fall 2023 semester, 15 law (Outside) students from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and 13 incarcerated (Inside) students from the State Correctional Institution – Greene, in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, took a full semester class together called Issues in Criminal Justice and Law. The class, occurring each week at the prison, utilized the Inside-Out Prison Exchange pedagogy, and was facilitated by Professor David Harris. Subjects include the purposes of prison, addressing crime, the criminal legal system and race, and issues surrounding victims and survivors of crime. The course culminated in a Group Project; under the heading “improving the …

Graduate, Honorable Mention: From Incarcerated To Educated: Experiences Of On-Campus College Students Post-Incarceration, Taylor Comer

2023 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

When determining how successful a student may be as they attempt to navigate higher education after concluding a prison sentence, there are a few factors that need to be considered. Namely, the barriers to college and academic success, as well as the facilitators of success should be examined as many factors fall under these two categories (Donaldson & Viera, 2021). Barriers to higher education and academic success are the determining factors in if a student that has completed an incarceration sentence would enroll in, and complete, courses. Even if this unique population of students has the means to attend college …

Book Review Of Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, And The Afterlife Of Mass Incarceration, Neal Mcnabb

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This piece is a book review of Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration by Reuben Jonathan Miller.

College Administrator Experiences: A Phenomenological Study Of Higher Education Leadership In American Prisons, Donavan Bailey

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Higher education for the incarcerated (HEP) is a re-energized phenomenon in the age of criminal justice reform and social change. Following the 2015 Second Chance Pell Grant Experimental Initiative (SCP), which granted select colleges tuition funding for prisoners, HEP grew exponentially. The successes of the SCP laid the groundwork for the 2020 FASFA Simplification Act. In July 2023 the 2020 FSA begins, and all those imprisoned within America may access Pell Grant Funds for higher education. Despite momentous efforts to bring higher education to the incarcerated, HEP grapples with continued challenges and lacks unified, evidence-based competency equal to normative higher …

Incarcerated Bodies – Embodied Autoethnography In Prison, Shulamit Kitzis‬‎

The Qualitative Report

Prison is a study field in which everyone – inmates, guards, and prison researchers – experiences powerful sensory stimuli comprised of sounds, sights, and smells in a crowded, closed space. Yet traditional academic research has socialized researchers to “wash away” their physical and emotional feelings for fear they would jeopardize the scientific nature and validity of their studies. Nevertheless, at times in a prison setting, the researchers’ bodies are the only tool that enables them to document what goes on; so much so that ignoring their bodies and emotions leads to a loss of valuable information. Using embodied autoethnography (EA), …

The Impact Of Parenting Classes On Incarcerated Mothers, Kimberly D. Phillips Dr., Kyong-Ah Kwon

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

With growing public attention to the problem of mass incarceration, many individuals want to know about the vast rise in women’s incarceration rate; particularly concerning, the increase of mothers in prison. For many mothers, the only source of hope and motivation they have while involved in the criminal justice system is the connection with their children. This article demonstrates that educational programs focusing on parenting can help incarcerated mothers renew their parental role upon release from prison. The target audience for this article includes, but is not limited to, correctional facility administrators, family counselors, educators, and anyone with an interest …

How Prison Systems Can Better Aid People With Substance Use Disorders, Avery Faires

College Honors Program

A large percentage of prisoners in the United States are suffering from a Substance Use Disorder (SUD), but many prisons across the country lack the proper resources to rehabilitate those with drug addictions. Incarcerated people with SUD face many dangerous and sometimes deadly consequences after release. My thesis addresses key associated questions: What role do prisons play in helping prisoners with SUD? And, how can they aid this population more effectively? When considering the breadth of such issues, I examine the sociohistorical context of drug policy in the U.S. to inform my analysis of the criminalization of substances, the greater …

A Study On Formerly Incarcerated Women From Appalachia Pursuing Higher Education, Marcie Simms

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The pursuit of higher education is a goal that is embedded in secondary education and often correlated with the American dream. This study concentrated on the barriers that women with a felony conviction face when pursuing higher education after incarceration. Based on the identified barriers, current best practices for admission to higher education institutions and individual resources available for the ex-offender population were assessed. Using a questionnaire and interviews, a qualitative research approach helped identify the barriers that women with a felony conviction face when pursuing education and best practice solutions for institutions of higher education when working with the …

Genealogy Behind Bars: An Update, Kathrine C. Aydelott

Faculty Publications

This brief essay is an update to “Genealogy Behind Bars: Professional Development Through Prisoner Requests: A Case Study,” in Genealogy and the Librarian: Perspectives on Research, Instruction, Outreach and Management, Carol Smallwood and Vera Gubnitskaia, eds. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2018, which see for context.

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, …

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. …

Learning From The Outcomes Of Existing Prison Parenting Education Programs For Women Experiencing Incarceration: A Scoping Review, Belinda J. Lovell, Angela Brown, Adrian Esterman, Mary Steen

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This scoping review addresses the question, what are the outcomes of existing prison parenting education programs for women experiencing incarceration and what can we learn? The framework used was based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Significant positive changes were identified after attending prison parenting programs and women generally provided positive feedback about their experiences however, there were also insights into the distress caused. The content covered in the programs is also explored. In conclusion, prison can be an opportunity for parenting education and support although currently the best way to …

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 …

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 …

The Interaction Effects Of Subjective And Structural Factors On Crime Among Formerly Incarcerated Males, Christopher Alvin Veeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The high rate of recidivism in the over 600,000 individuals who return from incarceration each year is an important social problem facing U.S. society and the criminal justice system. Efforts undertaken so far early in the 21st century to address the problem of recidivism in the formerly incarcerated, particularly prison reentry programs, have produced disappointing results at reducing the rate of recidivism. Therefore, there is a need to identify new ways for prison reentry programs to reduce recidivism among individuals recently returned from prison, and social work with its person-in-environment perspective can make an important contribution through conducting research to …