The First Step Act: A Good First Step Indeed!
If it passes, the First Step Act will dramatically change life for thousands of inmates in America and will tackle, head-on, some of the problems that lead people to prison and keeps them there. There are many long-overdue items on the Act that includes banning the shackling of pregnant and postpartum women (was a woman…
Read MoreDeparting AG Limits DOJ Consent Decrees
Shortly before resigning his post, as requested by President Trump, ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued guidelines for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to follow when seeking consent decrees with police departments or other units of state or local government. The likely result will be to keep DOJ out of investigations of state and local law…
Read MorePraise the Lord for Theology in Prison
Religion is a touchy subject; so, what happens when religious education takes place behind prison walls? The goings-on at Nash Correctional Institution (NCI) give us some insight. Currently, at NCI, 24 inmates are studying for a bachelor’s degree in pastoral ministry. Most of these men will be in prison for life, and the rest have…
Read MoreNorthwestern Prison Education Program Encourages Contemplation
Recently, we discussed the positive role liberal arts education has in prisons. Today, we take a closer look at the Northwestern Prison Education Program, which provides tuition-free liberal arts degrees to inmates in Illinois Stateville Correctional Center (SCC). Northwestern launched as an institution for higher learning in 1855. Five years prior, nine men sat down…
Read MoreNo “Making up for Lost Time” When a Prison Cuts Education Short
Ah, prison! That place where men and women go to realize the error of their ways and be fully rehabilitated. It’s where education is offered, training in life skills is provided, and community-minded citizens help out with reintegration programs… right? What we just described is the idealized version of the American prison system. Sadly, far…
Read MoreFlorida Voters Restore Ex-Felons’ Voting Rights
In the November mid-term election, Florida voters approved Amendment 4, the Voting Restoration Amendment, a ballot measure amending the state’s constitution to eliminate a provision that permanently removed the voting rights for well over a million state residents who have been convicted of felonies. The new amendment becomes Article VI, sections 4(a) and (b) of…
Read MoreWhy Teach Liberal Arts in Prison?
Liberal arts. Anyone studying this subject is frequently acquainted with an eye roll followed by, “and how are you supposed to get a job with that?” Liberal arts has a bad rap, and that is very underserved. The truth is, liberal arts is among one of the oldest courses of study in the world! While…
Read MoreBoston Mobster Slain Within Hours of Entering New Prison
Notorious Boston gang chief James “Whitey” Bulger was found murdered in his cell at the high-security federal prison in Hazelton, West Virginia on October 30, the morning after arriving there from FTC Oklahoma City, a Bureau of Prisons transfer center in Oklahoma City. Bulger was the chief organized crime figure in New England, in part…
Read MoreWhat is the Prison Studies Project?
The Prison Studies Project (PSP) is an initiative that created a nationwide directory of higher education prison programs in the United States. The index was completed in 2008 and is updated regularly. The project was completed in partnership with the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice. According to PSP’s website, “PSP aims to…
Read MoreBureau of Prisons Cuts Back on Halfway Houses and Services
Federal inmates expecting to be transferred from a prison to a halfway house — what the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) calls a “residential re-entry center” — are being informed shortages of spaces mean they’ll face delays in their transfer, and consequently more time in prison. BOP can let federal inmates with good-time credit spend up…
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