Expanding the scope of justice: Higher education, reentry and moral inclusion

• In Event: Prison to Empowerment Pipeline: Critical Perspectives on Re-Framing Re-Entry

Abstract

The importance of higher education as a pathway to successful reentry is underscored as a “new minority” of people returns home from prison. Research over the past twenty years has consistently demonstrated the positive outcomes associated with college in prison programs for families, communities, and individuals. In spite of the measured success in the reduction in recidivism rates, public safety, and tax dollar savings, people returning home from prison with the desire to start over face barriers in the college admissions process. Screening out or creating additional barriers in the admissions process for people who have served their time is an act of moral exclusion, which assumes that the need to mitigate risk on campus supersedes the importance of education for the transformation of communities. In a participatory action research (PAR) project with and for college students with criminal justice histories, we explored the gifts that formerly incarcerated individuals bring to the classroom. Through the understanding of the unique ways that their experiences enhance the learning environment, our aim is to bring these students into the scope of justice as fully integrated members of the academic community.

Author

• Alexis Halkovic, CUNY Graduate Center