The Case for Higher Education in Prison

Rebecca Ginsburg, co-founder and director of the Education Justice Project at the University of Illinois, on college-in-prison work at Danville Correctional Center. She traced the history of prison higher education from the 19th century through the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act that ended Pell grant eligibility, showed video clips of EJP classes and resource rooms, and argued against justifying such programs on rehabilitation or recidivism grounds. Clips of two EJP student convocation speeches were played, one by Michael Braun. Audience Q&A followed on data, funding, admissions, and the Illinois Department of Corrections.