Northwestern Offers Incarcerated Students Full College Credit

EVANSTON, IL — Inmates in state prison have begun earning college credit from Northwestern University as part of a new program launched this fall at Statesville Correctional Center. As part of a partnership with the Illinois Department of Corrections, the Northwestern Prison Education Program has become the first program in the state to offer liberal arts courses for credit to those behind bars.

Northwestern said it will waive tuition for all students accepted into the program, and college credit earned in prison will count toward sentence reductions and can be applied toward an undergraduate degree from the university.

The program was founded by philosophy professor Jennifer Lackey, who had been teaching classes independently at Statesville for the past four years, according to the university.

“When people say we don’t know how to deal with crime – that’s just false,” Lackey said. “We know very well that education is the most effective way to reduce recidivism and offset barriers to reentry into society.”

In its inaugural quarter, 40 Northwestern professors have signed on to teach at the prison and 22 Statesville inmates have enrolled the two classes on offer, "The Sociology of Chicago," which is being taught simultaneously to undergraduates in Evanston and incarcerated students, and "Violence Reduction and Transformational Change in Justice Systems," including joint teams of law students and prisoners working to develop crime prevention and anti-violence policies.

The Department of Corrections offers educational facilities at some of its other facilities, but none of them provide a chance for prisoners to earn a liberal arts degree.

“Education is a critical component of offender rehabilitation,” said IDOC Director John Baldwin in a release. “By providing incarcerated individuals with opportunities to advance their critical thinking skills and earn college credit, we set them up for success when they go home.”

Statesville is an all-male maximum security facility in Crest Hill, north of Joliet, where more than 1,200 inmates are serving prison sentences at a cost to the taxpayers of about $32,000 per inmate per year, according to 2016 data from the state. This year, undergraduate tuition at Northwestern costs more than $54,000.

The university cited a 2013 Rand Corporation report that shows that rates of recidivism are reduced by more than 40 percent among inmates who participate in prison education. It found every $1 spent on prison education cuts down on the cost of incarceration by between $4 and $5 during the three years after inmates are released.

“These men and women have the will to become educated and make thoughtful contributions to their communities. All they need is to be given the chance," said Lackey, the founder and program director. She said enrolling in the Northwestern Prison Education Program has been life-changing for students, and she has plans to expand the program to women's prisons and jails.

“One of the most human things we can do is to engage with one another intellectually," she said. "It’s transformative."

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