Topic: Justice initiatives
Blog Post
May 8, 2025
Assessing the Best Interest Determination
An Interview with Macy Pickman
Recently, as part of our work on enhancing data infrastructure for higher education in prison, we published an interview with Ruth Delaney, director of the Vera Institute of Justice’s Unlocking Potential initiative. In that interview, Delaney provides her expert insights into the Best Interest Determination (BID) process of Postsecondary Education in Prison (PEP) program approval. The Best Interest Determination, or BID, is a comprehensive program review, conducted by the oversight entity (state department of corrections or bureau…
Blog Post
April 29, 2025
The New York Prison Guards Strike
Impacts and Lessons for Higher Education in Prison
On February 17, 2025, correctional officers across New York state staged an unsanctioned strike—the second statewide walkout of the correctional workforce in state history. Following an incident and ensuing lockdown at Collins Correctional Facility, officers at Collins and Elmira began a series of wildcat strikes. At its peak, thousands of officers walked off the job, prompting Governor Kathy Hochul to deploy the National Guard to staff prisons. Officers cited low pay, chronic understaffing, and forced overtime as key grievances,…
Blog Post
April 25, 2025
Reflections on the 2025 National Conference on Higher Education in Prisons (NCHEP)
Ithaka S+R recently attended and presented (Alex Monday, Bethany Lewis) at the 14th annual National Conference on Higher Education in Prisons (NCHEP), held April 10-11 in New Orleans. The conference brought researchers, practitioners, correctional staff, and students together to consider this year’s theme: “A New Era? Pell Reinstatement and the Future of Prison Education.” From the opening remarks to the final sessions, the conference fostered a strong sense of community.
Blog Post
April 4, 2025
What Comes Next with Pell Restoration in Postsecondary Education in Prisons
An Interview with Ruth Delaney
As Ithaka S+R continues its work on enhancing data infrastructure for higher education in prison, we are committed to leveraging insights from experts across the field and highlighting key initiatives shaping the landscape. The restoration of Pell Grants for incarcerated learners, enacted through the FAFSA Simplification Act, has created a pressing need to examine program accountability, approval processes, and the role of data in supporting high-quality education. As we look forward to publishing findings from over 40 interviews with…
Research Report
March 31, 2025
Terrain Leveling
Design Strategies for Improving Higher Education in Prisons
A growing body of research documents the barriers faced by incarcerated students—such as limited access to technology and conflicts with correctional staff—but far less attention has been paid to the role of the built environment in shaping educational experiences. This project, led by Ennead Lab and Ithaka S+R, examines how spatial, architecture, and design features impact learning inside prisons. It draws on qualitative interviews and site visits to advance both research findings and a portfolio of design interventions.
Past Event
April 16, 2025
Terrain Leveling
Design Strategies for Improving Higher Education in Prison
With support from Ascendium Education Group, Ithaka S+R and Ennead Lab have examined how educational spaces in prison impact the teaching and learning experience and developed actionable strategies for integrating educational best practices into the redesign of these spaces. Join us for a webinar on April 16, 2025 at 2:00-3:00pm ET as we speak with experts in the field about their experiences with college education in prison, the challenges they navigated, and how architects, designers, and educational leaders can…
Past Event
April 9, 2025
Bridging the Digital Divide in Prisons
Access to technology in prison education is essential for preparing people who are incarcerated for today’s workforce—but for many, digital tools remain out of reach. On Wednesday, April 9 at 1pm ET, the Center for Justice & Economic Advancement will host a LinkedIn Live discussion on the impact of limited technology access in prison education programs and the solutions that can drive better outcomes, featuring Ithaka S+R’s Ess Pokornowski. Hear insights from researchers and people who have experienced these…
Past Event
April 11, 2025
Building Data Collection and Evaluation Capacity for Higher Education in Prison Programs
This session at the National Conference on Higher Education in Prison will explore the challenges and opportunities related to building data collection capacity in higher education in prison programs, focusing on Pell compliance and tracking student success. Participants will develop a framework for data collection and engage in an interactive exercise to identify and solve data-related challenges in their own programs. The session is scheduled for April 11 at 10:25-10:50AM CST.
Past Event
March 19, 2025
Conducting a Higher Education in Prison Needs Analysis
Varied Approaches and Perspectives
Join the New England Board of Higher Education’s New England Prison Education Collaborative on March 19 at 3pm ET for a virtual workshop on “Conducting a Higher Education in Prison Needs Analysis: Varied Approaches and Perspectives.” This workshop aims to equip such stakeholders as departments of corrections, state higher education executive officers, and program providers with the tools and knowledge needed to conduct a needs analysis and gauge barriers to increasing access to higher education in prison and student…
Blog Post
January 24, 2025
Creating and Sharing Art Under Mass Incarceration
Insights from an Ithaka S+R Webinar
On Thursday January 16th, 2025, we hosted a webinar that explored the importance of art creation in carceral settings, the challenges incarcerated artists face, and the ways different organizations are collaborating with these artists to help disseminate their work to a wider audience and preserve it for the long term. These are issues we also covered in our recent report, Preserving Their Stories: Making (and Sharing) Art Under Mass Incarceration, that was funded through the NEH. We include a…
Research Report
January 13, 2025
Preserving Their Stories
Making (and Sharing) Art Under Mass Incarceration
While a handful of initiatives have recently begun to systematically collect materials created by people impacted by incarceration, anecdotal evidence suggests that most incarcerated artists and writers entrust their work to grassroots and volunteer-led organizations. Thus, if we are to begin to address archival silences around people who have experienced incarceration, it will be critical to understand the role community organizations can play in creating more inclusive and holistic collections and supporting humanistic inquiry.
Blog Post
January 7, 2025
Higher Education in Prison and Return to Title IV (R2T4)
The July 2023 restoration of Pell grants for incarcerated students was a watershed moment for increasing access to higher education in prison. But with this change came a complex set of administrative and regulatory issues confronting both prison education programs and students. Return to Title IV (R2T4) rules create risks for all Title IV Federal Student Aid recipients, not just incarcerated learners. If a student receives Title IV funding and withdraws during the semester, the college or university may have…
Past Event
January 16, 2025
Preserving Their Stories
Creating and Archiving Art Under Mass Incarceration
Join Ithaka S+R and Tammy Ortiz as we introduce you to “Preserving Their Stories: Archiving Mass Incarceration.” In this National Endowment for the Humanities funded project, Ithaka S+R Justice Initiative’s team explored how creative works generated by incarcerated artists circulate beyond prison walls. Join us for a webinar on January 16, 2025 at 2:30pm ET as we speak with experts in the field and learn more about their successes and struggles navigating the creation of their art, preservation…
Blog Post
December 9, 2024
An Education Technology Implementation Playbook for Correctional Leaders
Planning Tools and Collaborations that Foreground Student Learning Objectives
As both the owner and operator of correctional facilities and the official oversight entity for higher education in prison programming, it is up to departments of correction to determine what technology to make available for education on the inside. This means that correctional leaders are responsible for considering security and safety as well as educational best practices. There is little research on how to negotiate these, at times differing, value sets. As a result, there are very few…
Playbook
December 9, 2024
Technology Implementation for Higher Education in Prison
A Student-Centered Playbook for Planning, Preparing, and Assessing Implementation Readiness
As both the owner and operator of correctional facilities and the official oversight entity for higher education in prison programming, it is up to departments of correction to determine what technology to make available for education on the inside. However, there are very few resources designed to help correctional leaders determine what technologies are available, how they might benefit students in their facilities, and what drawbacks the new technology might pose.
Blog Post
October 7, 2024
Looking at Learning Spaces for Higher Education in Prison Programs
What does equitable access to quality instruction look like in a carceral context? How can higher education in prison programs fulfill their obligation to provide their students with an educational experience that is as close as possible to the one of students on main campuses? Drawing on interviews with former students, higher education in prison program personnel, and department of corrections staff members, our new report documents what instructional conditions are like in carceral spaces, and how those conditions…
Research Report
October 7, 2024
Uneven Terrain
Learning Spaces in Higher Education in Prison
How can prison education programs fulfill their obligation to provide their students with an educational experience that is as close as possible to the one of students on main campuses? Thus far, our research into equitable access has focused largely on instructional delivery and practices, and technological access and use. This report broadens our interrogation of that central question by exploring the role of space, architecture, and design in the context of higher education in prison.
Past Event
October 17, 2024
Information Access for All Incarcerated Learners
Contextualizing Information Access and Prison Education
Several factors limit education and information access and equity in carceral settings, including limited budgets to support education inside, censorship and media review practices, lack of attention to library services, and regulations prohibiting information sharing between incarcerated people. Libraries and nonprofits are working to address these limitations by identifying how people who are incarcerated can more easily access information, engage in creative practices, and support their own learning goals. In this session at the Montreal…
Blog Post
September 30, 2024
An Introduction to Reentry Service Provision and Community Partnership for College Administrators
New Report
When revised federal Pell Grant regulations went into effect in July of 2023, one of the provisions stipulated that college in prison programs would now be obliged to document how they or the organizations they partner with provide reentry services. Ithaka S+R’s new report, Exploring the Landscape of College and Community Reentry Partnerships, examines how colleges and community organizations can best partner to deliver effective services for reintegrating students. This report represents the first findings from a multi-year project…
Research Report
September 30, 2024
Exploring the Landscape of College and Community Reentry Partnerships
Now that federal Pell Grant funding has been reinstated for learners who are incarcerated, the field is in flux. Higher education in prison programs are adapting and developing their practices to meet new policy and regulation needs. Two major facets of the revised regulations for Pell funding are particularly critical for college in prison programs, namely the requirement to track and report student data, and the obligation to document how they or their partner organizations provide reentry services.