Higher Education and Justice-Involved Learners

If nothing else, America stands to save a lot of money if it refocuses its management of the country’s incarcerated and post-incarcerated populations. Today’s penal industry exacts significant punishment on its inmates while also compelling them into unemployment, poverty, and worse. The cost to society of running its current ‘justice’ systems is high, both in terms of prison and jail costs and in the economic losses suffered by the inmates, their families, and their communities. Switching its focus from punishment to education would reduce these losses while adding valuable assets to the national workforce.

Incarceration is Expensive

Imprisoning people for any reason generates costs in several arenas. Today’s prison and justice systems consume over $80 billion per year, housing the millions of people who reside in America’s prisons and jails. In 2022 alone, over 1.2 million inmates languished in the nation’s prisons, and almost half a million (469,000) more joined that prison population that year. Another seven+ million people went to jail, and, of those, an average of one in four were re-arrested within one year of exiting it. Those ‘justice-involved’ people who also suffer ‘social’ challenges (mental health conditions, poverty, substance abuse disorders, etc.) are often worse off after being released than they were when they entered the system.

Adding to the challenge is the additional $530 billion the country spends supporting the families and communities from which the incarcerated people come.

Not only does the country pay a lot to warehouse millions of inmates, but it also reduces their opportunity to contribute economically back to their community:

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) currently loses over $80 billion per year when formerly incarcerated people are excluded from the workforce.

Not only do those folks not have work, but they also don’t pay local or state taxes that support their communities.

Instead, over one-quarter (27%) of released former inmates rely on publicly funded social services and unemployment resources to live post-incarceration.

Recent research tracked the monetary value of 23 different ‘costs’ associated with incarceration – beyond justice system spending – and estimates that the actual aggregate cost of America’s incarceration industry tops $1 trillion per year, which amounts to 6% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Fortunately, there’s a better way to manage the challenges posed by people who will not or can’t follow society’s rules: Provide them with the opportunity for an education that alleviates their various stresses and gives them the skills to contribute positively to their neighborhood.

Educating Current and Former Inmates Is Good Business

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) insists that there’s an excellent business case to be made for hiring formerly incarcerated people. Research conducted by that entity reveals that refocusing incarceration time to value education rather than punishment promises a much better net result for both the former inmate and the community and country. Its data suggests that the positive economic factors related to a change of intention for the nation’s prison industry should compel much more investigation and investment in training and rehabilitating these populations:

If these people were welcomed back into the workforce, the GDP could grow instead of shrink. Individual studies show that employing just 100 formerly incarcerated individuals could add $1.2 million annually in earnings and up to $55 million in lifetime post-incarceration income.

Studies also indicate that these populations demonstrate higher loyalty and experience lower turnover than non-justice-involved workers, giving employers a more stable and reliable workforce.

Well-paid former inmates are also much less likely to re-offend or return to the justice system, which completely avoids the costs incurred in those systems.

The data suggests that transitioning both the intent and the practices involved in incarceration strategies to embrace training and rehabilitation would be a much better investment of public dollars. So how might that happen?

California’s Community Colleges Reach Out to Justice-Involved Students

Recent social justice developments are driving a change in attitude and focus for the nation’s colleges and universities. In the past, now outdated policies limited access to scholarships, intentionally ignored academic achievements behind bars, and prevented the establishment of college-level courses within a prison’s ‘rehabilitation’ process, all of which acted as nearly insurmountable barriers to upward mobility or personal improvement while or after being incarcerated. Further, in too many cases, those populations most impacted by the inequities were those of people of color; Blacks and Latinos are twice as likely to be incarcerated as their Caucasian counterparts.

In California, the community college-based Rising Scholars Network (RSN) is overriding those outdated models. Emerging from the Corrections to College California initiative, the RSN comprises a majority of California’s colleges that have dedicated resources designed specifically to assist currently or formerly incarcerated students. As a network, the RSN agency works with corrections partners to articulate challenges and find solutions to problems in both the college and prison settings. The project uses resources designed and developed by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) and embraces both those students in prison and those released from incarceration. The initiative offers guidance for educational entities that serve (or want to serve) these populations.

For learners still imprisoned, the ‘education access’ program follows a similar path as that utilized for non-justice-related students:

Building on partnerships with prison employees, the project establishes an on-site ‘campus’ within prison walls that adheres to the constraints of both institutions: the school and the prison.

Guided Pathways is a successful student-focused strategy that leads the learner to programs and courses best suited to their preferences and capabilities.

Changes in language and jargon reduce the stigma created by being incarcerated. Learners are identified as students, not inmates.

As much as possible, college attendees behind bars are treated the same as if they were on school grounds and not in a prison.

Formerly incarcerated learners face challenges, too, related to their previous imprisonment. Typically, this population lacks the financial and social resources that are common for non-justice-involved students, such as access to housing, reliable transportation, and funding opportunities. Schools hosting these learners adopt practices that facilitate as easy a learning opportunity for them as possible:

Enhanced privacy standards ensure their history remains private and in the past.

Faculty and staff are vetted for their comprehension of the justice system so they know the systems from which their students are coming.

Community-based resources directed at the formerly incarcerated are incorporated into program and course plans to ensure the student can access all available assets, not just those located on the school campus.

School counselors can also look for paid work positions such as internships or apprenticeships for the formerly incarcerated, which also opens doors beyond the school to a financially secure future.

The CCCCO administers the ~90 community colleges currently involved in the RSN, which work with correctional facilities to provide programs for youths and adults in the prison system. The programs operate primarily on campus (at 80 schools) but also in youth facilities (34), jails (30), and prisons (25).

Today’s prison systems are mired in outdated, unscientific policies and procedures that cost too much in both lives and money. By pivoting their focus to educating—not punishing—their inmates, those systems stand to reduce their costs while providing an almost unmatched resource back to their local and regional neighborhoods: a skilled and educated worker who will contribute to society, not drain resources out of it.