'Unconventional College Students': How 12 Incarcerated Maximum-Security Individuals in CT. Earned College Degrees

Date:  05-28-2024 In addition to providing a pathway to a degree, the program extends beyond the classroom to assist incarcerated students in reentry, through partnerships with community organizations

From The Middletown Press: SUFFIELD, Conn. — For many college students and families, graduation season means hours spent in a stadium, amphitheater, or athletic fields. But in a unique ceremony Friday, bachelor’s degrees were handed out in the the largest prison in New England. In the first-ever bachelor’s degree ceremony held in a Connecticut prison — ceremonies were held in 2023, bestowing associate degrees — 12 people who are incarcerated were awarded degrees at the maximum-security MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institute for adult men. Still, the graduates, their loved ones, faculty, and staff celebrated at the facility in a ceremony, made possible by a prison education program through a partnership between Yale University and the University of New Haven. “It was a huge success. It was so beautiful,” said Zelda Roland, the founder of the Yale Prison Education Initiative and the Prison Education Program Director at the University of New Haven. Continue reading >>>