Education for Liberation

The Politics of Promise and Reform Inside and Beyond America’s Prisons

Edited by Gerard Robinson and Elizabeth English Smith - Foreword by Newt Gingrich and Van Jones

Almost 650,000 men and women, approximately the size of the city of Memphis, TN, return home from prison every year. Oftentimes with some pocket change and a bus ticket, they reenter society and struggle to find work, housing, a supportive social network. Economic barriers, the stigma of a felony conviction, and mental health and addiction challenges make reentry a bleak picture, leading some to return to a life of crime. A Department of Justice study of 404,638 inmates in 30 states released in 2005, for example, identified that 68 percent were rearrested within 3 years and 77 percent within 5 years of release.

Education and workforce readiness programs must be central components in better preparing individuals to successfully reenter society – and stay out of prison. This book compiles chapters written by individuals on the right and the left of the political spectrum, and within and outside the fields of prison education and reentry that address this need for reform. Chapters feature the voices of prominent national figures pushing for reform, current and former students who have benefitted from an education program while in prison, those teaching or managing educational programs within prison, and researchers, entrepreneurs, and policy influencers.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 186 • Trim: 7¼ x 10

978-1-4758-4774-1 • Hardback • January 2019 • $87.00 • (£67.00)

978-1-4758-4775-8 • Paperback • January 2019 • $44.00 • (£35.00)

978-1-4758-4776-5 • eBook • January 2019 • $41.50 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Education / Educational Policy & Reform / General, Education / Adult & Continuing Education, Education / Current Issues

Education for Liberation

The Politics of Promise and Reform Inside and Beyond America’s Prisons

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Almost 650,000 men and women, approximately the size of the city of Memphis, TN, return home from prison every year. Oftentimes with some pocket change and a bus ticket, they reenter society and struggle to find work, housing, a supportive social network. Economic barriers, the stigma of a felony conviction, and mental health and addiction challenges make reentry a bleak picture, leading some to return to a life of crime. A Department of Justice study of 404,638 inmates in 30 states released in 2005, for example, identified that 68 percent were rearrested within 3 years and 77 percent within 5 years of release.

Education and workforce readiness programs must be central components in better preparing individuals to successfully reenter society – and stay out of prison. This book compiles chapters written by individuals on the right and the left of the political spectrum, and within and outside the fields of prison education and reentry that address this need for reform. Chapters feature the voices of prominent national figures pushing for reform, current and former students who have benefitted from an education program while in prison, those teaching or managing educational programs within prison, and researchers, entrepreneurs, and policy influencers.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 186 • Trim: 7¼ x 10

978-1-4758-4774-1 • Hardback • January 2019 • $87.00 • (£67.00)

978-1-4758-4775-8 • Paperback • January 2019 • $44.00 • (£35.00)

978-1-4758-4776-5 • eBook • January 2019 • $41.50 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Education / Educational Policy & Reform / General, Education / Adult & Continuing Education, Education / Current Issues

Author

Gerard Robinson is the executive director of the Center for Advancing Opportunity headquartered in Washington, DC.

Elizabeth English Smith is policy analyst at the Council of State Governments Justice Center headquartered in New York City.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Gerard Robinson and Elizabeth English Smith

Chapter 1- The Long History of College in Prison

Max Kenner

Chapter 2- The Economics of Prisoner Re-Entry

Stan Veuger and Daniel Shoag

Chapter 3- Second Chance Pell Pilot Program: From Policy to Practice

Andrea Cantora

Chapter 4- Reentry Programs, Evaluation Methods and the Importance of Fidelity

Nancy La Vigne

Chapter 5- The Legal Case for Education in Prison

Ames C. Grawert

Chapter 6- Young Men’s Initiative: Nine Lessons for Elected Officials, Investors, and Criminal Justice Advocates

Linda Gibbs

Chapter 7- Collateral Damage: The War on Drugs and the Impact on Women, Children, and Families

Renita L. Seabrook

Chapter 8- The Importance of Work

Will Heaton

Chapter 9- Entrepreneurs, Innovation, and New Opportunities to Reform Criminal Justice

Thomas Stewart

Chapter 10- Student Voices

Karen Jones, Brian Amaro, Salih Israil, Marcus Lilly, and Michelle Jones

Conclusion

Gerard Robinson and Elizabeth English Smith

About the Editors

About the Contributors

Reviews

This book highlights why partnerships between correctional leaders and public, private and faith-based organizations matter to the 650,000 men and women that reenter our communities every year. It exemplifies why we must make prisons more rehabilitative places, and how investing in the education and reentry outcomes of incarcerated individuals supports not only them, but their families, and makes our communities safer.
— Craig DeRoche, Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Public Policy, Prison Fellowship

Powerfully written and incredibly timely, Education for Liberation provides the dialogue needed to move our country forward in figuring out how to break the destructive cycle of incarceration and re-incarceration. This book provides a truly multidisciplinary account of the challenges of preparing individuals for productive lives post-incarceration and the opportunities for innovation. Addressing one of the nation’s most critical issues of our time, this is required reading for all interested in improving the well-being of our communities.
— Carrie Pettus-Davis, Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for Justice Research & Development, Florida State University

This collection provides a roadmap for utilizing education as a pathway toward liberation from the forces of mass incarceration. The bipartisan collection of contributors demonstrates how cross-collaborative efforts can be leveraged to increase the likelihood of post-release success for returning citizens. Education for Liberation is must-read for understanding education’s role in successful reentry efforts, and offers a necessary collection of readings for those fighting for the intersectionality of reconciliation and public safety.
— Howard Henderson, Professor and Director of the Center for Justice Research, Texas Southern University

The Second Chance Pell Pilot Program is a much-needed opportunity for a select group of incarcerated students to advance their knowledge base, and we hope that it builds momentum to bring back the full slate of postsecondary education programs that ended 25 years ago. As one of the first books to feature this topic specifically, Education for Liberation fills a much-needed void in highlighting these topics for discussion among policymakers, advocates and philanthropists seeking to reduce recidivism and increase opportunity through the power of education.
— Hayne Yoon, Director of Government Affairs at the Vera Institute of Justice

Features

An op-ed at AEI that contains a link to my latest reports about education and prisons:
•Observations about the Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative (June 2021)
•A Story to Tell: The Importance of Education during Incarceration as Told by 22 Men and Women Who Know Firsthand (March 2021)