“Be on the Same Page as Yourself”: Postsecondary Supports for Formerly Incarcerated Women of Color

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 3:20 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Identities at the Intersection Matter in Accessing Higher Education (Table 12)

Abstract

As Second Chance Pell (SCP) increases opportunity for pursuing college while incarcerated (Collins & Dortch, 2022), there will be a higher share of the 1.9 million Women leaving prison annually with at least some postsecondary experience (Sawyer, 2019). There are few active mechanisms for capturing postsecondary trajectories by formerly incarcerated status (Coulette, 2018). My project addresses this gap by exploring the postsecondary experiences and trajectories of Formerly Incarcerated WOC through frameworks of carcerality in higher education (Johnson & Dizon, 2021; Sudbury, 2009), and WOC Feminisms (McKittrick, 2021; Tuhiwai Smith, 2012; Patel, 2021). Findings from pilot interviews with Formerly Incarcerated WOC inform new understandings of their postsecondary trajectories, and how supporting these goals can help engage higher education a decarceral ethos.

Author

• Cydney Y. Caradonna, University of Utah