Bennington College Launches Prison Education Initiative

BENNINGTON, VT – Bennington College recently launched the Prison Education Initiative, through which the college will be offering courses with transferable credits to prisoners at Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Comstock, NY, a maximum-security prison with 1,600 inmates.

The Prison Education Initiative was developed at a Think Tank about the question of higher education in prison held in April at the college’s Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA). Panelists and advisors included the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent of Great Meadow Correctional Facility, the Bard Prison Initiative, Hudson Link, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, JustLeadershipUSA, College and Community Fellowship and a number of other dedicated people.

“That less than seven months after the Think Tank, the first Prison Education Initiative class was held at Great Meadow is a consequence of some of the most brilliant and effective thinkers and leaders in the country coming together to exchange ideas and experience,” says Susan Sgorbati, director of Center for the Advancement of Public Action. “The Prison Education Initiative offers a practical and effective educational service that reflects the values and traditions of Bennington College.”

Bennington is following a model first introduced by the Bard Prison Initiative. Bennington joins Bard College, Cornell University and other colleges and universities in offering courses in New York state.

Before the 1994 Crime Bill, incarcerated students had access to higher education via Pell Grants, which are federally funded need-based grants available to low-income undergraduate and certain post-baccalaureate students to promote access to postsecondary education. In the Crime Bill of 1994, Pell Grants for incarcerated students were discontinued, and post secondary education in prisons was drastically reduced. Currently, the programs offered by colleges and universities are privately funded.

Incarcerated individuals who participated in post secondary correctional education were less likely to return to prison than prisoners who did not. The Bard Prison Initiative found that, among formerly incarcerated participants in the program, fewer than two percent have returned to prison; nationwide, nearly 68 out of every 100 prisoners are rearrested within three years of release, and more than half return to prison.

Faculty members David Bond and Annabel Davis-Goff are currently co-teaching a college-preparation course at Great Meadow. In the spring, inmate students will take credit-bearing courses in social science, literature and American history. The credits earned through the Prison Education Initiative will be transferable. The courses taught are identical in content and standards to those offered at Bennington.

The Bennington Prison Education Initiative is part of Bennington College’s CAPA Incarceration in America initiative. Faculty member Annabel Davis-Goff is the director of Bennington’s Incarceration in America Initiative. It is funded by the College and by the Harry J. Brown Jr. Private Foundation.

Featured

  • University of Connecticut Upgrades Basketball Facility’s AV Systems

    The University of Connecticut recently partnered with Metinteractive to upgrade the AV systems of the Gampel Pavilion basketball facility on its campus in Mansfield, Conn., according to a news release.

  • Texas A&M Adds ALPR Technology to Parking Solutions

    Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, recently integrated automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) technology into its parking services and enforcement strategies, according to a news release. The university’s Transportation Services division deployed Genetec AutoVu ALPR to manage the campus’ 36,000+ parking spaces.

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2025 New Product Awards

    Spaces4Learning is now accepting entries for the 2025 New Product Awards! The program’s goal is to honor the outstanding product development achievements of manufacturers and suppliers whose products and services are particularly noteworthy in helping to improve K–12 and Higher Education learning environments.

  • Illinois Elementary School Breaks Ground on Campus Expansion

    Heather Hill Elementary School, part of Flossmoor School District 161 in Palatine, Ill., recently broke ground on a new addition to the school focused on student support and security, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects & Engineers for the expansion as part of a longer-term facility planning and modernization initiative.

Digital Edition