Accessing higher education can be a difficult task for many aspiring students across the nation. It may seem insurmountable from inside a prison cell.
The state of California incarcerated 95,600 people in 2023. Yet, as of the fall 2023 semester, only 230 were enrolled in a bachelor’s program, representing just 0.2%, according to an EdSource report.
Legal restrictions enacted through the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 limit incarcerated individuals’ access to financial aid. San Diego State University, however, developed a program in August of 2023 designed to bring their curriculum directly to incarcerated individuals.
The SDSU Valuing Incarcerated Students through Academia (VISTA) program is a program in which SDSU instructors teach classes inside of Centinela State Prison for students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies, art and design or communications.
VISTA as a program itself is still fairly new, with their inaugural cohort having just graduated last May.
Austin Brumblay is a journalism and media studies lecturer at SDSU and has been a VISTA instructor since summer of 2024. According to Brumblay, VISTA tries to provide the exact course content taught on campus to VISTA students.
“We try to keep them as identical as possible,” Brumblay said.
The classroom environment also mirrors that of SDSU.
Brumblay added that VISTA students don’t fall into the typical grade bell curve that on-campus students do, they challenge themselves to get all A’s. In fact, he said that they even have friendly competition to see who can get the highest grade.
“The students themselves are very, very active, very engaged,” said Brumblay. “They want to be there.”
Ruben Alarcon, former VISTA student and SDSU senior, agrees, saying that VISTA has a unique sense of community.
“The classroom environment in the VISTA program was more cohesive,” Alarcon said. “We were one unit.”
Alarcon was released this April after serving 17 years in prison. He started his academic journey within the carceral system working toward an associate degree in 2016. Alarcon explained that limited access to textbooks and frequent transfers between facilities delayed his progress, preventing him from completing his degree until the summer of 2024.
Alarcon said that, through the VISTA program, the process of earning his bachelor’s degree was much more streamlined. Now that Alarcon is released, he is continuing his education as a fourth-year, on-campus student at SDSU.
Alarcon is interested in earning his master’s degree as well.
Annie Buckley, VISTA founding director, said in an email that she frequently observes this pattern among students in the VISTA program.
Actually, “many of our graduates would like to apply themselves further and pursue a Masters’ or doctorate degree,” Buckley said.
This pursuit of education has also proven to be an effective method of reform, according to the Vera Institute of Justice. Vera also says that at least one-third of people released from prison will find themselves behind bars again.
Incarcerated individuals who participated in “correctional education programs” were 28% less likely to reoffend, according to a 2018 study on experimental criminology. This phenomenon is known as recidivism.
“95% of incarcerated individuals go home,” said Brumblay.
He said that education can help to increase the number of people that go home and stay home.
Although participation in VISTA ends after release, SDSU’s aid doesn’t. SDSU also offers a support program called Project Rebound, which provides academic advising and curated opportunities for financial aid to formerly incarcerated prospective students.
Additionally, Buckley leads another program called Holistic Learning for Higher Education in Prisons that hosts events such as workshops and seminars for current VISTA students and supports their reentry after release.
Buckley said that VISTA directors have several ideas for additional programs including a certificate program with connections to the humanities, a potential new degree program and weekly workshops that focus on writing and creative arts.
Moreover, the program is currently in the process of helping prospective VISTA students with enrollment into the program’s third cohort. This new cohort will officially enroll starting next spring and will also receive their bachelor’s degree in journalism.
“I like to think about opening the doors for students and others to evolve new possibilities for themselves, and for positive change in our world,” Buckley said.
