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All posts are subject to the Alliance’s approval. The Alliance reserves the right to reject any post for not fulfilling the purpose of this News Page, which is to disseminate information related to the field of higher education in prison. If you have any questions, please contact alliance@higheredinprison.org.
The Freedom Takes is a podcast from the Million Book Project, produced for listeners in prison and out, that explores the relationship between literature and freedom. The Freedom Takes podcast is available for download on Apple Podcasts. A still-image movie version of The Freedom Takes podcast is also available on YouTube for closed-circuit TV channels to broadcast the show. Higher education in prison programs and any other in-prison education programs should contact the Million Book Project at millionbookproject@yale.edu for the captioned video file versions for play on closed-circuit TV channels.
The Alliance for Higher Education in Prison maintains the most comprehensive resource in the United States for people seeking information about national college in prison programs. The National Directory was launched on December 15, 2020.
The Landscape of Higher Education in Prison report provides a descriptive overview of the field of higher education in prison during the 2018-2019 academic year.
Higheredinprison.org now features a Community Events Calendar. Look for events from the Alliance for Higher Education and events hosted by the higher education in prison community.
The Alliance's COVID-19 Action page contains materials and resources created by/for or that are meaningful for higher education in prison programs from across the United States.
As the June primary election approaches, advocacy groups have raised concerns about voting access at Rikers Island and other facilities, saying New York should follow the lead of cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and D.C. in bringing in-person voting to jails.
Jamii Sisterhood, with support from Laughing Gull Foundation, has launched Project Freedom to seeks to increase the presence of Black and LatinX instructors inside correctional facility classrooms through supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as they design their higher education in prison programs. Applications are now being accepted.
This Request for Proposals is to establish a highly qualified cadre of consultants for the Columbia University Justice Lab, whose expertise and knowledge can be tapped and deployed for ongoing and emergent project needs.
The insidious use of background checks in employment, licensure, housing, and education is yet another example of the perpetual punishment endured by millions of Americans who have conviction records. The user-friendly design of this guide is intended to help people with conviction records navigate individual, institutional, and systemic barriers erected by the practice of background checks. While many valuable guides exist that help people with convictions understand their legal rights, this guide is unique because it aims to help people develop their own narrative. This guide is a continuation of our work to support people with convictions in navigating barriers to education and economic opportunity. Last year, we released Getting to Work with a Criminal Record: New York State License Guides (2020 Expanded Edition), which explains the process for obtaining licenses in 25, high-demand occupations and professions for people with conviction records. We remain committed to increasing access to opportunity for the millions of people impacted by the criminal legal system.
Mourning Our Losses is a crowd-sourced memorial to honor the lives of people who died in prisons, jails, and immigration detention facilities in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. We remember the lives of people who died from exposure to abominable public health conditions, as residents and as employees. Mourning Our Losses seeks to restore dignity to the faces and stories behind the statistics of death and illness from behind bars. We believe that a loss of any human life warrants mourning. We are united in our effort to honor our fallen brothers and sisters by telling their stories. We offer a platform for grief, healing, community, and reflection for all those touched by this preventable tragedy.
In 2015, the U.S. Department of Education announced the Second Chance Pell (SCP) experiment under the Experimental Sites Initiative, which allows incarcerated students who would be eligible for Pell Grants—a form of federal financial aid—if they were not incarcerated to access them while attending an eligible academic program offered by one of the colleges participating in the experiment. But filing for financial aid while incarcerated can be a formidable challenge. Drawing on the experiences of the first group of SCP colleges, this toolkit, drafted in collaboration with the Chemeketa Community College, is designed to aid new and existing participants as they guide students through the complexities of filing for federal financial aid in prison, including completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the FAFSA.
"The Writing On The Wall" art installation projects writings by incarcerated people onto the sides of buildings.
Seats at the Table is the film portrait of Andrew Kaufman’s University of Virginia Books Behind Bars class which brings together university students with residents of a juvenile correctional center through the study of Russian literature.
Mississippi Freedom Winter addresses the humanitarian crisis occurring throughout Mississippi's prisons and immigrant detention centers. Their Study and Struggle program is the first phase of an ongoing project to organize against incarceration and criminalization in Mississippi through four months of political education and community building.
A 2020 Netflix series in which celebrity readers share children's books by Black authors to spark kid-friendly conversations about empathy, equality, self-love, and antiracism.
In "Social, Emotional, and Academic Development Through an Equity Lens", The Education Trust outlines how to shift the focus away from “fixing kids” and toward addressing adult beliefs and mindsets as well as school and district policies to create an equitable learning environment.
People in prison have often been relegated to “better than nothing” education, writes Tanya Erzen, and the inequities could become more prevalent during the pandemic.
The Education Trust is conducting research, and inviting survey participation, which will center on the voices of Black borrowers.
Having a parent in prison is an adverse childhood experience, a childhood trauma that can lead to poor health and wellbeing as an adult. Yet, these children can thrive if they build resilience.
Download this printable Yoga and meditation manual developed for people who are currently incarcerated by Yoga Behind Bars (YBB).
The Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project newsletter, The Warbler, is available to anyone interested in being on their weekly distribution list.
College Behind Bars (originally on PBS) is now streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime and can be sent to your program.
The Marshall Project is collecting data on COVID-19 infections in state and federal prisons.
Report on data collected showing the cost of policing around the United States.
Support for postsecondary institutions and community partners to remove barriers to: food, housing, childcare, mental health services, transportation, or digital access for postsecondary students.
