Colleges Can Do More Than Educate Incarcerated People. They Can Hire Them.
This summer, about 700,000 incarcerated people will become eligible for the federal Pell Grant, gaining access to a critical form of college financial aid for the first time in nearly 30 years. When the 1994 Crime Bill banned Pell for imprisoned individuals, the number of higher-education prison programs rapidly dwindled from 1,500 to just eight. With Pell back on the table, institutions are once again designing degree programs for prisoners. But colleges and universities can do more to ensure that the incarcerated are set up for success after their release: they can hire them.
Across the country, college and university systems are among the largest employers in their states. They have a unique capacity not only to educate individuals currently in the criminal justice system but also to tap a new source of talent to enrich their community. Formerly incarcerated individuals face immense barriers when trying to find work and start a career. They are five times more likely to be unemployed than the general U.S. population. Three-quarters of individuals released from prison remain unemployed a year later. Those who find employment are often stuck working in low-wage jobs with little opportunity for advancement.
Colleges and universities should demonstrate their belief in the education they are providing these individuals by also providing pathways to meaningful employment with family-sustaining wages. That includes positions of leadership and influence.
We know that people who participate in college-in-prison programs are far more likely to secure stable employment with family-sustaining wages after their release. A number of institutions are now widening access to these programs. Portland State University’s Higher Education in Prison program allows the incarcerated at nearby Coffee Creek Correctional Facility to work toward a degree while still in prison and then to matriculate to the university after their release. Once on campus, students have access to resources through the university’s Project Rebound program, dedicated to helping them transition to college life.
Importantly, PSU has hired formerly incarcerated people to help manage the program. Nahlee Suvanvej overcame addiction and mental health challenges, earned a degree, and now serves as the Higher Education in Prison program’s Pell readiness counselor and college navigator. By hiring Nahlee, the university has shown that it recognizes the importance of hiring formerly incarcerated people to support these programs. As criminal-justice system reform advocate Glenn E. Martin has said, “People closest to the problem are closest to the solution, but furthest from power and resources.”
The same philosophy led St. Louis University to hire Courtney Everett to serve as a coordinator for the university’s Prison Education Program. Everett is a graduate of that program and recently enrolled in the university’s MBA program, with his tuition paid as an employee benefit. At Stanford University, Dr. Noel Vest uses his own experiences in prison and his deep expertise in the areas of addiction treatment and recovery support services in his role as a resident fellow in the Office of the Vice Provost for Student Affairs. Dr. Stanley Andrisse spent time in and out of prison from the age of 14. He’s now an assistant professor at the Howard University College of Medicine, where he leads an effort to provide research internships to formerly incarcerated people interested in STEM careers. He is also the founder of From Prison Cells to Ph.D.
More institutions should follow the example of these colleges and universities, not only hiring people who have served time but also considering them for key positions, where their experiences can be a tremendous asset in developing transformational programs. Those could be faculty positions or senior staff positions, such as directors of admission, deans of diversity, and student-services directors.
Colleges and universities cannot in good faith espouse the life-changing impact of a college education for those who are incarcerated without also allowing those released from incarceration to access the same career opportunities as anyone else. By hiring more formerly incarcerated people in well-paid, sustainable, and even leadership roles, colleges can help break barriers of fear and exclusion, create a more diverse workforce, and provide formerly incarcerated individuals with a fair chance at a new life and career.
