Providing Second Chances
America is a nation founded on the idea of second chances, yet we close doors that lead to a better life for a whole segment of the population. People with criminal convictions are stigmatized in the labor market and barred from specific jobs, unable to vote, and shut out of public housing.
But policies once rationalized as just desserts and good for public safety increasingly are viewed as counter-productive. Key arenas for creating second chances are in higher education and housing. What we’ve found: The payoff of bringing college back into prison, and using it as a sturdy bridge to support reentry. And that many people caught up in the justice system and then barred from public housing can live there safely with their families without compromising the safety of other residents—and that welcoming them is the smart thing to do.
Issue
Spotlights
Featured
Opening Doors to Public Housing
Expanding Access for People with Conviction Histories
Access to safe, affordable housing is essential to the success of people in reentry and their families. For people leaving prison or jail or those with conviction histories who want to reunify with their family members in public housing or apply for housing themselves, admissions criteria can be a serious barrier. Federal guidelines leave many poli ...
Project
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Margaret diZerega
Incarcerated Students Will Have Access to Pell Grants Again. What Happens Now?
Incarcerated people earn pennies per hour for the work they do in prison, so Pell Grants, their primary source of need-based financial aid, had made it possible for students to access higher education. The 1994 crime bill stripped incarcerated students of Pell Grant eligibility, making a college education practically unattainable. In the following ...
Blog Post
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Juan Martinez-Hill
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Ruth Delaney
College in Prison
Postsecondary education opportunities for incarcerated people
Research suggests that education is key to improving many long-term outcomes for incarcerated people, their families, and their communities—including reducing recidivism and increasing employability and earnings after release. To improve the lives of incarcerated people and decrease the collateral consequences of incarceration, Vera works nationwid ...
Project
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Margaret diZerega
Related Work
College in Prison Adapts as COVID-19 Upends Education in Schools Everywhere
Daniela, who received her associate’s degree in 2014, says going to college and getting a degree while in prison gave her a second chance “to be who [she] always wanted to be.” But for decades, getting that second chance and accessing higher education has been a challenge for people like Daniela. The Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiativ ...
Blog Post
Margaret diZerega
Nazish Dholakia
Second Chance Pell: Four Years of Expanding Access to Education in Prison
The Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative, launched by the U.S. Department of Education in 2015, provides need-based Pell Grants to people in state and federal prisons. The initiative examines whether expanding access to college financial aid increases incarcerated adults’ participation in postsecondary educational opportunities. This re ...
Wisconsin Program Helps People Find Jobs After Prison
Blog Post
Nazish Dholakia
Looking Beyond Conviction History
Recommendations for Public Housing Authority Admissions Policies
Safe, affordable housing is essential for the millions of people released from U.S. jails and prisons each year. But most public housing authorities (PHAs) have admissions policies that prevent formerly incarcerated people from living there. For nearly all types of convictions, housing authorities exercise their individual discretion to set eligibi ...
A Monumental Shift: Restoring Access to Pell Grants for Incarcerated Students
After 26-year ban lifts, incarcerated students can once again receive this federal financial aid
In December 2020, Congress lifted a 26-year ban on Pell Grants for incarcerated students. The ban, enacted amid a slew of “tough-on-crime” policies in the 1990s, stripped people in prison of access to this federal financial aid. Incarcerated people earn pennies per hour for the work they do in prison, making it next to impossible for them to afford ...
America is Ready to Reinstate Pell Grants for Students in Prison
In a divisive political season, voters agreed on at least one thing: college in prison is a good idea and there should be more of it. In the November 2020 American Election Eve Poll conducted by Latino Decisions, the African American Research Collaborative, Asian American Decisions, and the National Congress of American Indians in partnership with ...
Blog Post
Brian Walsh
Ruth Delaney
Government Leaders Must Meet Voters’ Demands for Justice with Meaningful Change
Black voters played a pivotal role in this election, which President-elect Biden acknowledged during his acceptance speech, promising to have their backs. There is no doubt that these voters see justice reform as a top priority. The Vera Institute of Justice—in partnership with Latino Decisions, the African American Research Collaborative, Asian ...
Blog Post
Nicholas Turner
First Class
Starting a Postsecondary Education Program in Prison
In April 2020, the U.S. Department of Education expanded the Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative, adding 67 new higher education institutions to the program’s already operating 63 colleges offering postsecondary education programs in prison. Starting a college program in prison is a significant undertaking that will profoundly affect t ...
I Didn’t Care about Voting until My Incarceration Showed Me How Much it Matters
Felony Disenfranchisement Suppresses the Votes of Black and Latinx Americans
Blog Post
Dyjuan Tatro
Series: Target 2020
Voters in Battleground States Favor Restoring Pell Grants for People in Prison
These battleground state voters seem to understand that reinstating Pell eligibility for the greatest number of people in prison is a sound investment in our future. Plenty of other influential voices agree. Bipartisan momentum to get rid of the Pell ban for people in prison has been growing steadily: Since early 2019, the Association of State Cor ...
Blog Post
Margaret diZerega
Series: Unlocking Potential