ReEntry and Education, Part 3
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ReEntry and Education, Part 3
Three not-easy-to-answer FAQs
This post is a (loose) continuation of my series on reentry and education. These are three questions I hear often, and that don’t have clear or easy answers. Remember that good prep work up front means an easier onramp for potential students.
How will students find out about my program?
Creating a pipeline of students is one of the more complicated pieces of this work. If you have a carceral campus, or even a volunteer teaching program, it seems like a no-brainer, but you have to remember that students don’t always release where they are incarcerated. States, counties, and the feds all determine where people should serve their sentences differently, so you have no way of knowing where your students will ultimately end up. It also means that people are likely releasing to your area, but have no idea you are a resource for them.
The gap between incarceration and release is one of the biggest challenges to transitioning students from inside to outside and it exists everywhere. This is where knowing who serves reentering people in your area is crucial. County or city-run programs, workforce development agencies, and your local community college may already be serving these folks, and are excellent starting points. You need to research what exists and start creating those connections.
I won’t lie to you. Trying to do this on an individual basis is extremely difficult. Not because people aren’t interested or willing to partner, but because trying to match a systemic issue with individual effort is simply not sustainable. You won’t have the resources or capacity to do it alone, or at least not for long. If you want a reentry education program on your campus, you need to get the institution on board.
Whether your college offers a robust set of reentry services or not, if YOU are trying to attract/work with reentering students, YOU need to know what is available in your community. You also need to know what resources are available on your campus, so do that research.
How can I get access to the local prison/jail?
I would do some research first, especially if you have several institutions in your area. Talk to the community organizations and find out what has been allowed in the past. Find out if your college has ever had any kind of corrections programming and, if it is gone, what happened. If other colleges in your state have programs inside, talk to those folks & find out how and what they did, if you are working with state facilities.
If you are looking to work with local municipalities, the community is your best resource. If you are wanting to work with the Bureau of Prisons (BOP/feds), you will likely just have to go to the facility and talk with them. I built a relationship with our local BOP halfway houses, although most people there were going to other states.
State halfway houses or work release locations (not prison work camps) should be an absolute slam dunk to get people into college, but they are often very focused on work and don’t think about college. I found that going in person, doing q & a session with people there (staff and residents), and being seen frequently got moderate results. You definitely need to build a good working relationship with the facility supervisor!
Ultimately, there is no way to guarantee you will be allowed into any carceral institution. If you find that you are thumping your head on the wall, let it go for a while and focus on building relationships in your community and across your college. Talk to other folks in the higher ed in prison world, refresh yourself and your interest in the work. Dealing with prisons and jails is exhausting and will crush your vision if you don’t protect and renew yourself.
What can I do to help students once we connect?
Remember that students - incarcerated now or in the past - are full and worthy humans, just as you are. Treating people with dignity and prioritizing relationship is the primary starting point for all of us, regardless of other ways you can help. With regard to what you can do as an educator and system actor, you might need to help students figure out what help they need. That requires you put some time into understanding your institution’s processes.
To begin, what aspect of college does the student need help with?
Admissions, course enrollment, program selection, financial aid/student loans, student activities/clubs, residence life, disciplinary procedures/code of coduct, non-credit/credit questions, transcripts, debt, discrimination/staff misconduct, or some combination? Something else? If you don’t know, who is your go-to for figuring out things you don’t know?
You understanding how things fit together is critical in order to help students figure out what they need from the college. You also need to know what your obligations are (and are not) and when you have reach the extent of your influence or authority. You don’t have to abandon students, but sometimes your best role is to help them navigate a different system or process.
Is their issue related to their former incarceration or current legal obligations?
I hesitated to include this because that aspect of a student’s life is rarely our business. I decided to include it because there are some circumstances where the college might put up roadblocks based on conviction history, or a student might ask for advice.
If it is the case that this is a (potential) legal obligation, you should know your college’s rules and policy, or the person who does. You can be a support person, if your student requests one, or you can advocate for them if you are in a position to do so. You should also pay attention to whether or not you have any legal obligations such as (for example) mandatory reporting or something related to conduct or Title IX, as you would for any student.
If you discover that your student may have some kind of outstanding legal obligation, but you aren’t sure, know who to ask or where to refer them. I cannot emphasize enough - do NOT attempt to give anyone legal advice if you are not their legal counsel. Sometimes just being a listening ear is enough, and sometimes there just isn’t anything you can do other than that.
NOTE - almost all of the situations I can give you as examples are not unique to people with conviction histories. You could find yourself providing the same types of support to any student enrolled at the school, so a better understanding helps all your students.
Who can you ask for advice?
When you are in the planning and connecting point of this project, pay attention to people who have deep knowledge of how these systems work. These are people who are incredibly helpful when technical questions arise. Pay attention to people who are friendly (and nonjudgmental) to your vision and your student population, they are good resources when you need advice on advocacy, or potentially tricky situations. Figure this out in advance so you aren’t scrambling when something comes up.
If you are the person directly helping students, you should have a contact in each of the major areas of student concerns - admissions, enrollment, financial aid, instruction, conduct, and so on. Talk with them in advance about some of the issues your students might face, maybe even go through some scenarios. Honestly, you won’t truly understand how important these relationships are until a frantic student shows up the first day of the term!
These kinds of posts are hard to write because distilling all the things that can happen into less than 50,000 words is quite a chore! But my intention is for you to have a better understanding of how think about what you’re trying to do, not give you a set of prepared answers.
Education is a basic human right and need, and we all deserve access to its benefits. People returning home from prison already face a daunting number of obstacles, getting an education shouldn’t be one of them.