When I began my time, inmates had just lost access to college Pell grants with the passage of the1994 crime bill. A multi-year battle had raged within the public sphere about the benefits of providing higher education to inmates, and Pell Grants fell victim to this debate. The often cited lower recidivism rate that accompanies higher education has consistently lost to a vocal opposition minority, typically a misguided crowd that argues ‘why should a prisoner have access to a Pell grant when my own law abiding son or daughter can’t get one?’ Supporters of the grants commonly cite a nonpartisan Rand Corp study which found that prison education not only saves money but meaningfully reduces the recidivism rate. To this day, the vocal opposition has won the ‘no grants for higher education for inmates’ argument.

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