Resources

Interest in prison higher education is expanding all across the country.

The US Department of Education’s Second Chance Pell Pilot Program currently has 130 colleges and universities nationwide slated to receive Pell grant funding for incarcerated students enrolled in in-prison programs, on an experimental basis. In California, the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 1391 in 2014 generated new interest in prison education among the state’s community colleges, by allowing them to receive apportionment funding for incarcerated students, just as they do for students enrolled in classes on their outside campuses.

The expansion of higher education in prison will mean promising new opportunities for incarcerated people, if new programs are thoughtfully designed and effectively implemented. New prison programs will need guidance and support in order to respond to the particular needs of incarcerated students, and the significant challenges presented by the prison environment.

Mount Tamalpais College is committed to supporting the creation of a skilled, knowledgeable and professional community of practitioners by providing resources and services that any college, university or prison can access to improve their higher education program. We are also committed to helping to establish widely accepted standards of practice for the field of prison higher education.

We conduct trainings and workshops for new and developing prison programs around California, addressing topics such as the rules, regulations, structure, and culture of the California prison system; prison education program models, culture, values, and approaches; classroom pedagogy and innovative approaches; student support, especially for students with learning differences; college preparatory programming; and many other subjects.

We also host customized trainings, workshops, and meetings to address the individual programs' needs. We are currently working to create a comprehensive toolkit containing resources and materials on all the subject areas described above as part of our trainings that will be available to practitioners statewide and nationwide.

For the last 15 years, we have provided technical assistance and support to prison higher education programs across the United States.

In response to California Senate Bill 1391, which invested resources in community colleges to establish in-prison programs, we developed a series of technical assistance and training opportunities for new and developing programs across the state.

We are currently working to develop recommendations for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) regarding what materials academic programs should be allowed to bring into prisons. Adopting these recommendations will ensure that the rules are known on the ground at all CDCR institutions and will have a major impact on the expansion of prison higher education programs in California and across the U.S.

We have provided training and technical assistance to dozens of programs in more than seven states, serving as a model for new and developing programs nationwide.​

Bakersfield College, SATF Corcoran

California State University, East Bay

California State Prison - Los Angeles

Castro Valley Unified School District

Center for Engagement, Service, and the Public Good - California State University, Los Angeles

Cerro Coso Community College, California City Correctional Facility

Chaffey Community College, California Institution for Women, California Institution for Men

College of Alameda

College of the Canyons, Los Angeles County Jail

College of the Redwoods, Pelican Bay State Prison

College of the Sequoias

Columbia College, Sierra Conservation Center

Cuesta College, California Men's Colony

Exchange for Change

Five Keys Charter School, County Jail 5, San Francisco

Flinders Law School, Australia

Folsom Lake College, Folsom Women's Facility at Folsom State Prison

Franciscan School of Theology

Fresno State University

Hartnell College, Salinas Valley State Prison

Humboldt State University

Insight Garden Program

Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, UC Santa Barbara

Jackson College, Michigan

John Jay Prisoner Reentry Institute

KIPP Bay Area Schools

Lafayette Academy

Lassen Community College, High Desert State Prison

Merced County Office of Education

Microsoft

Office of the Inspector General

Otterbein University Prison Program

Plattsburgh State University

Prison Teaching Initiative, Princeton University

Project ALOFA

Project Rebound

Project Rebound, SDSU

Project Rebound, SFSU

Renewing Communities Initiative at The Opportunity Institute

Research Foundation, SUNY Systems and Administration

Root & Rebound

Rubicon Programs

San Diego State University

San Francisco State University

San Joaquin Delta College

San Jose State University

Santa Rosa Junior College

Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice

Salt Lake Community College Prison Ed Program

Southwestern Community College, RJD Correctional Facility

St. Louis University

State University of New York

Taft College

UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley Extension

UC Davis

UC Irvine

UC San Francisco

UC Santa Barbara

University of North Carolina Wilmington

University of Washington

Veterans Healing Veterans

West Los Angeles College, Jail Program

West Hills College Coalinga

Willow Creek Academy