New Opportunities, Long Challenges in Postsecondary Education in Prisons

End of Pell Grant Ban Clears the Way for New Wave of Prison E ducation Programs: One graduate says California spent $1.5 million to lock him up for 21 years: 'I earned a bachelor’s degree for under $30,000 & now I’m paying taxes.' (Wayne D’Orio, The 74: America's Education News Source, September 13, 2023)

 

Some readers may know that I worked in prisons for several years. My takes:

• Only two things directly rehabilitate inmates
  • Meaningful Work
  • Education
  • Everything else can contribute, especially medical and family care for women
• Incarceration serves several societal purposes
  • Separating the felon from society for a period of time
  • Punishment
  • Rehabilitation
  • Revenge
• The vast majority of inmates will return to society. We are better served if they're more likely to re-assimilate into society through rehabilitation
• The Pell Grant program
  • Offered a great number of opportunities to pay for educational programs for inmates
  • Was ripe for abuse by, let's face it, people not given to follow rules
• I'd like to see robust educational opportunities for inmates, and I believe it would be a good investment

 

Not the point of my comment. I didn't feel excluded one little bit. Just establishing a bona fide for my comment for those who didn't know about my first hand experience.

As for the plethora of things I've done, it's a function of advanced age.