By Kelly Meyerhofer
Key points
- A 2023 change in federal law made Pell grants widely available to incarcerated students.
- It’s led several UW institutions to launch programs inside prisons.
- Research shows education helps limit recidivism.
University of Wisconsin-Stout professor Jonathan Wheeler took stock of his students on the first day of class last winter.
“How many of you have done the assigned reading?” he asked. Every single hand went up.
A bit taken aback, Wheeler asked whether anyone had finished the whole chapter. He said most hands remained raised.
“How many of you have read the entire book?” he asked. A couple of students’ hands were still in the air, including Martell Rogers’.
Wheeler was surprised. He was used to students skipping the readings or making a halfhearted attempt. But this was no ordinary class.
Rogers and the other 14 students facing Wheeler in the cinderblock classroom were engaged, prepared and eager to discuss. They were also incarcerated at Stanley Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison in northwestern Wisconsin.
“This isn’t something we’re doing because we’re bored; this is something we’re doing because we’re motivated to do something different with our lives,” Rogers, 40, said in a phone interview from Stanley. “It’s where we go to be ourselves. To be seen as students, not inmates, which is something we didn’t feel until this came along.”
UW prison education programs grow, thanks to federal financial aid law change
There’s an education renaissance quietly unfolding in Wisconsin prisons.
UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire launched bachelor’s degree programs at Stanley this fall. UW-Milwaukee plans to start teaching classes at Racine Correctional Institution in spring. UW-Green Bay started an associate degree program at Oakhill Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison in Oregon, Wisconsin, and also offers classes at Green Bay, Oshkosh and Taycheedah correctional institutions.
Fueling the growth is a 2023 change in federal law making Pell Grants widely available to incarcerated students.
Pell Grants, the federal funding many low-income students depend on to pursue college degrees, were extended to incarcerated students in 1965. But higher education opportunities in prisons largely vanished after a 1994 federal crime bill banned access. Proponents at the time said the ban would ensure the limited pot of federal financial aid would go to cash-strapped college students, not convicted felons.
Access expanded somewhat in 2015 under the Obama administration’s “Second Chance Pell” pilot, which the Trump administration later expanded. Milwaukee Area Technical College, Madison College and Moraine Park Technical College launched associate, certificates and vocational programs under the pilot. The courses are taught largely in person by prison employees who have met technical college instructional standards and teach approved curriculum.
Some private institutions, including Marquette University, also offer programming.Education helps limit recidivism
Expansion of UW’s prison education programs kicked off in 2022 under Tommy Thompson, the former four-term Republican governor who oversaw the largest expansion of the prison system in the state’s history. More recently, Thompson served as president of the state university system, during which he expressed a change of heart in his approach to criminal justice.
“I built too many prisons,” he said at a 2022 event. “I think we need to be much more interested in rehabilitation.”
About 35% of Wisconsin inmates released in 2021 were reincarcerated within three years, according to state Corrections data.
Research shows that incarcerated students who enroll in postsecondary-education programs are 48% less likely to return to prison than those who don’t participate, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit that opposes mass incarceration. Prisons with such programs have fewer violent incidents than prisons without them.
Peter Moreno leads the Prison Education Initiative, an effort housed at UW-Madison that coordinates programming across the UW campuses. Moreno said he’s encountered little to no political opposition to the initiative. Republicans and Democrats alike see value in reducing the recidivism rate, improving public safety, saving taxpayer money and strengthening workforce development.
“The enthusiasm for this is off the charts,” Moreno said.
Students lack access to basic tools, such as the internet. Large lecture halls are a no-no, posing security concerns. Professors must rework lectures, assignments and tests to adhere to a prison’s restrictions.
A nearly $6 million state grant in 2021 helped campuses and the state Department of Corrections work through these logistical challenges to get the programs off the ground. The programs will continue operating primarily through Pell Grants, which are sent directly to universities instead of the students who qualify for the grants.
Nearly 170 students are enrolled this fall in at least one credit-bearing UW course. Thirty are pursuing bachelor’s degrees, including Rogers. He said he came into the program with an associate degree and enough existing credits that he is slated to graduate with his bachelor’s degree this winter.
Rogers called college transformative and life-altering.
In Wheeler’s design class, Rogers learned about perspective during a logo branding assignment. For his biology class, traditional on-campus students headed to a lake to hunt for mussels. The professor recorded and narrated the field trip so Rogers and others could complete the assignment at Stanley.
“For me, college is growth,” Rogers said. “This is an experience I don’t think anyone should miss out on. It changes the way you see the world.”
Reentry support coordinator sees herself in the students she supports
Helping students who are nearing the end of their sentence or have recently been released from prison is Rachel Ritacco, the initative’s reentry support coordinator.
Several of Ritacco’s students have faced challenges, from finding landlords willing to rent to an ex-convict to identifying employers willing to take a chance on them.
Ritacco faced similar obstacles when she was released from prison in 2022 after serving 13 years behind bars. She credits college with changing the direction of her life.
A Corrections staffer encouraged her to apply to MATC through the Second Chance Pell pilot. It took a couple tries before Ritacco agreed to fill out the application. She went on to earn two associate degrees. The self-confidence did even more for her than the diplomas.
“It’s almost like a re-wiring of how you see yourself in your brain,” she said. “ I just want to be there and give that to someone else: help them see their value and open doors to opportunity.”
Kelly Meyerhofer has covered higher education in Wisconsin since 2018. Contact her at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.
Source: The newest student population for Wisconsin colleges to recruit? People behind bars