Postsecondary Educational Trajectories of Formerly Incarcerated Persons

• In Event: Increasing College Enrollment and Success for Adult Students

Abstract

Given the limited work opportunities available to persons who have been incarcerated, a college degree could serve as one means to improve both educational and job market outcomes. A number of states have expanded access to college classes for incarcerated persons. In 2014, California passed SB 1391, a law that allowed for equal per-student funding of college courses in prison and on campus. However, there is limited research on whether this access to college while in prison is associated with postsecondary persistence and completion of a certificate or degree. Using administrative data from the California community colleges during the 2012–2021 period, I use linear probability models to measure the likelihood of reenrollment in a community college for formerly incarcerated persons in California who took community college courses while incarcerated when compared to community college students who were formerly incarcerated and did not have access to these courses. I also explore whether reenrollment and persistence differ by race or ethnicity given the disproportionate incarceration rates of Black and Latinx men.

Author

• Tolani A Britton, University of California, Berkeley
  Presenting Author