On December 12, 2019, I conversed with several incarcerated women enrolled in the US Department of Education’s Second Chance Pell Pilot Program. This program is made possible by a partnership between the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and Langston University, a public four-year higher education institution in Langston, OK. Langston University has the distinction of being one of only three Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Pilot Program, and one of three participating Oklahoma postsecondary institutions, along with Connors State College and Tulsa Community College. Of the more than 200 higher education institutions that applied to participate in the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program, Langston University was selected to be in the inaugural group of 67 postsecondary institutions granted the opportunity to allow approximately 12,000 men and women in 100 prisons in 27 states to use a Pell Grant to fund their educational pursuits.
This initiative was made possible through executive action supported by President Barack Obama on July 31, 2015. Two weeks before President Obama announced the launch of a national Pell Pilot program, he became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison when he spoke with prison personnel and incarcerated men in the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in Oklahoma City, OK about the need to institute reforms of the criminal justice system, along with the role educational programs can play in it. For over 20 years incarcerated adults in the United States were ineligible for a Pell Grant as a result of the enactment of the Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 signed into law by President Bill Clinton. This ban remains in place, except for those in the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program. Currently, a bipartisan group of congress members and advocacy organizations have endorsed the Restoring Education and Learning (REAL) Act of 2019 to restore Pell Eligibility to incarcerated people.
The Second Chance Pell Pilot Program does not merely find allies in the former Democratic administration, but is also supported by President Donald Trump and current Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. The Secretary showed her support by her deliverance of commencement remarks at Dick Connor Correctional Center, a participant in the Pell Pilot program, in Hominy, OK on June 25, 2019. One of the graduates at the commencement exercises was a Langston University student.
With all the talk about the Pell Program at Langston University, I decided to visit its program at the medium-security Kate Barnard Correctional Center in Oklahoma City. This Center offers a variety of programming, such as educational and professional, and faith-based initiatives provided in the Prison Fellowship Academy. Joining me in the prison visit from Langston University were Vice President Mautra Jones and Dean Josh Snavely, who is an instructor at Kate Barnard. Warden Jeff Dunkin, a supporter of programs that help women prepare to successfully reenter society, and Todd Winn, a 30-year educator who is among a cohort of Oklahoma Department of Corrections instructors that help approximately 1,000 men and women earn a G.E.D. each year, also participated in the tour.
Behind the bars, I met women —
black, white, Hispanic and Native American — ranging in age from their 20s to 50s. Some grew up in Oklahoma City while others were from
rural Oklahoma counties. Many arrived to prison with different levels of
academic achievement. All of them share one thing in common, though: enrollment
in Langston University with assistance from a Pell Grant.
Currently, Langston University
educates 87 incarcerated adults in two prison
prisons in Oklahoma. Langston offers three baccalaureate degrees through the
Pell Program including business administration, liberal education, and
rehabilitation services. The program
continues to experience significant growth every semester since its initial
class of seven students two years ago. Langston anticipates additional
enrollment in the program of nearly 20 to 25 students per semester in the
coming year.
As I reflect on my visit at Kate Barnard, three things come
to mind:
Self-Efficacy:
The women I met are taking responsibility for the reinvention of their lives. A
number of them are repeat offenders. This time they said things would be
different. Why? Because they will leave prison with some educational courses,
and a new partner — Langston University — to help them with the transition from
bars to school buildings. Many of these women will become the first in their family
to earn a college degree. This is a major milestone in the journey toward self-efficacy.
Moms Behind Bars: Some women I met were mothers. This situation is not unique to this prison or the state of Oklahoma. At least 2.7 million children under the age of 18 have a parent in prison or jail. While most parents in prison are men, there was a 122 percent increase in the incarceration of mothers between 1991-2007. Presently, approximately 10 percent of the 75,000 women who enter prison annually are pregnant. The incarceration of these mothers has social and economic consequences for the families and children who are left behind. Thus, some of these cited a desire to be a good mom in prison and beyond as their motivation for enrolling in college.
Workforce Preparation: These women can improve the
likelihood of gaining employment after incarceration by leaving prison with
stronger oral and written communication skills than when they were initially incarcerated.
I was able to visit one classroom in particular where three women delivered their
first college presentation, each demonstrating effective communication skills. These
presentations marked the successful conclusion of the course “Personal and
Social Development” for these three women, and the other fifteen women enrolled
in their first college course. For the first time in both their lives and
educational journey, these first-time college students utilized and displayed
the skills necessary for success in school and the workplace.
In closing, I walked away from my visit to Oklahoma City with enthusiasm and questions. On one hand, I met key stakeholders in the capital city that believe education, workforce development and criminal justice reform are synonymous. Dr. Kent J. Smith, Jr., President of Langston University, as well as administrators and faculty from the university shared their support for this unique in-prison endeavor during a dinner conversation we had the night before my visit to the Kate Barnard Correctional Facility. For Langston University, providing students an opportunity to pursue a degree to change the economic trajectory of their lives is part of a mission that dates back to 1897. Doing so inside an Oklahoma prison is simply the latest articulation of this mission. At the same time, leading philanthropic, corporate and government partners that joined the dinner conversation expressed a strong belief in public-private partnerships as a pathway to make second chances a reality for approximately 57,000 people in prisons, county jails or on community supervision in Oklahoma.
On the other hand, I wonder if these
women will continue their studies after prison, be it at Langston University or elsewhere? Are support systems in place to
make this happen, particularly for mothers? In a state with the highest
incarceration rate for women in the nation, will Oklahomans and the rest of us give
these women the opportunities that they need to succeed? Lastly, will society treat
them differently than women who leave our prisons without access to
postsecondary opportunities?
Only time will tell.
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