Incarcerated individuals will now have greater access to higher education as part of a pilot project administered collaboratively between Lewis-Clark State College and the University of Idaho. The U.S. Department of Education’s Second Chance Pell Experiment will help these individuals start or continue their educational journeys and earn a credential, certificate or college degree so they can gain employment upon release.
LC State and U of I were two of 73 colleges and universities invited to participate in the third round of the Second Chance Pell Experiment, an initiative first launched in 2015 to expand access to Federal Pell Grants for incarcerated individuals to allow them to participate in postsecondary education programs.
The Pell Grants are available as early as July 1st.
The University of Idaho has worked within the prison system to deliver higher education opportunities for several years. It’s Inside Out Program is the only one of its kind in the state. LC State has offered non-credit welding classes through its Workforce Training program at the Idaho Correctional Institution in Orofino consistently since 2009. By adding the tuition funding, the opportunities to the incarcerated population are that much greater.
According to research by the RAND nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization, providing education in prison has proven to reduce recidivism rates and is associated with higher employment rates. A 2018 RAND study found that incarcerated individuals who took part in correctional education were 48 percent less likely to return to prison within three years than incarcerated individuals who did not participate in any correctional education program. RAND estimates that for every dollar invested in correctional education programs, $4 to $5 are saved on three-year re-incarceration costs.
