[caption id=”attachment_144044″ align=”aligncenter” width=”5011″]Education Secretary Arne Duncan, center, speaks with inmates Alphonso Coates, bottom right, and Kenard Johnson, both participants in the Goucher College Prison Education Partnership at Maryland Correctional Institution-Jessup, Friday, July 31, 2015, in Jessup, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
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Four prisons in California will host community college programs for inmates to pursue an education while incarcerated.
Recent legislation has increased funding for prisoner education programs, including an effort by the Obama administration to open Pell Grants to incarcerated students.
According to the Los Angeles Times, research from the Rand Corporation found that investment in education programs can decrease the likelihood of prisoners to return to prison after release.
Reducing recidivism through education could be a boon by lowering future prison costs and preparing prisons for post-incarceration life.
Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander criticized the White House’s method, declaring that the plan requires Congressional approval.
Jody Lewen, executive director of the Prison University Project, a successful California prison education program, offered cautionary approval, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“It could be fantastic, but if we allow institutions to come in and do it as cheap as possible with little investment, it will be garbage,” Lewen said. “It will be one of those things in the prison system that’s called better than nothing.”
