A limited number of incarcerated individuals will now be eligible to receive Pell Grants to fund postsecondary education and training during their sentences, the Department of Education announced on July 31. This is the most recent of several Obama administration efforts to improve the criminal justice system, building off a visit to a federal prison and the commutation of 46 nonviolent drug offenders’ prison sentences. President Obama was the first sitting U.S. President to visit a federal prison.
The higher education funded by the Second Chance Pell Pilot program will help inmates re-enter a more competitive job market. One third of all jobs in the United States require at least an associate degree, a number which may increase to 43 percent by 2020, reported the Huffington Post.
In addition to better preparing prisoners for jobs, the Department of Education claimed in a press release that “correctional education can ultimately save taxpayers money and create safer communities.” The release cited a 2013 RAND Corporation study showing that prisoners who participated in “correctional education” were 43 percent less likely to return to prison within three years.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan describe the program as a “prison to productivity pipeline.” The pilot will also be a step away from the past 20 years in which prisoners in federal and state penal institutions were disqualified from receiving Pell Grants as financial support.
“This ban was passed despite the fact that higher education has been shown to reduce recidivism and despite the fact that incarcerated students made up less than 1% of all Pell Grant recipients,” the two officials wrote in a USA Today op-ed.
Postsecondary institutions will apply to the program next month for the 2016-2017 academic year.
