Shawn Powell is incarcerated at the Centinela State Prison in Imperial, CA and is a student at San Diego State University pursuing a journalism degree through SDSU’s Valuing Incarcerated Scholars Through Academia (VISTA) program. This article is a submission to our Letters to the Editor section. For any questions or submissions please email Opinion@thedailyaztec.com.

According to a 2024 Yale law journal, the U.S. incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than any other country. The need for change is great, and higher education within prison can address this need, and, in fact, has already started to do so. 

With the advent of the 2016 Second Chance Pell Grant initiative and programs such as SDSU’s Valuing Incarcerated Scholars Through Academia (VISTA) program, higher education within prison is a reality that has already changed many lives for the better by providing opportunities to those in carceral settings to better themselves through education.

Studies by J.W. Sacks regarding behavioral science and the law show that large proportions of system-impacted individuals suffered some form of trauma, and I was no different. Both my parents were addicted to drugs and incarcerated throughout my life. It did not take long for me to follow suit. By the age of 14, I found myself incarcerated – a cycle that continued throughout my life up to this day. 

Criminal behavior is what I resorted to when things became difficult for me. It’s not necessarily that opportunity wasn’t available to those of us that are incarcerated; it’s that due to the reality of our living conditions, we neither thought the opportunity was there- nor did we know how to pursue it. As for me, I did not have the confidence, depth of knowledge or pro-social skills to initiate change.

This, however, changed when introduced to higher education. Higher education created a shift in my perception, which allowed me to reassess what is important in life, such as my goals and priorities, thus changing the mentality I had prior to my education. It gave me the knowledge, skills and resources needed to be successful in society while simultaneously increasing my self-worth and offsetting the antisocial aspect of prison life. It gave me the intellectual awareness and maturity to pursue options I never thought I could. 

I am just one of many.

The benefits of higher education within carceral settings are numerous and include improved self-worth and social behavior as well as providing the tools and resources needed to be successful. The benefits are not only to those incarcerated but also to society as a whole, improving public safety and increasing rates of employment. 

Emory University research shows that rates of recidivism drop to 13.7% for those earning an associate’s degree, 5.6% for those earning bachelor’s degrees and 0% for those earning a master’s degree. It is more cost effective (saving tax dollars) to educate prisoners that will go on to be productive members of society than it is to continually re-house them in prison. 

A periodical by Education Liberates shows an estimated $365.8 million savings of tax dollars if 50% of those eligible for Pell Grants participated in post-secondary education. This is not to mention all the benefits down the line because the formerly incarcerated individuals will go on to hold beneficial positions within their communities as well as becoming taxpayers themselves.

Possibly more important than reducing recidivism is the change that it will have on lives. Higher education transforms those that society views as less than ordinary into extraordinary individuals, and that to me is no less than pure magic. This is the power education wields. 

With the advent of these programs, we, as a nation, are off to a good start but need to continue. 

Now that higher education is an option for some, they are quick to take advantage of the opportunity afforded to them and often excel in academia. We as a society should contemplate the implications and benefits of this. By providing opportunities and expanding education throughout the prison system, we can do a great service to the community as a whole. 

Society has an obligation to improve conditions within itself, and higher education for those incarcerated does just that. More funding and resources are needed because there are only a limited number of inmates that can participate. By bringing awareness to this issue, the overall impacts can be enormous. The goal should be to help those that society often labels a burden to change for the better. By providing them with the resources needed, we can help transform that label into an asset that will benefit all.