Launched in 2021, College Inside is an Open Campus newsletter about the intersection of two major systems shaping our society: higher education and criminal justice. Alongside our biweekly email newsletter, we send print copies to more than 1,000 incarcerated subscribers across the country.
In our latest print issue of College Inside, Charlotte West visits a sociology classroom in a California prison where incarcerated women are studying forgiveness through an academic lens, which allows them to examine their own experiences of causing harm and being harmed.
West also explores the role of artistic expression behind bars, looking at how incarcerated artists navigate censorship, as well as how art itself can become contraband. We also feature a series of three illustrations by Juan Hernandez about the lack of education at his Illinois prison.
Download the PDF of the latest issue here.
A personal essay by Jesse Carson, the editor-in-chief of the Mule Creek Post, questions whether or not it was worth pursuing an education behind bars, while West and NPR politics reporter Elena Moore talk to four first-time formerly incarcerated voters — or would-be voters, depending on where they live.
This issue of College Inside, designed by Emily Jenkins, also takes a deep dive into correspondence courses and the first graduate program behind bars in California, as well as the impact of closing Stateville — a century-old prison an hour outside of Chicago — on the academic community that once thrived there. Finally, we answer incarcerated reader’s questions about educational credentials and Shannon Ross, a formerly incarcerated executive director of a nonprofit in Wisconsin, offers advice for job seekers.
About College Inside
College Inside is published by Open Campus and written and edited by Charlotte West, the only reporter in the country dedicated to covering prison education. Her expertise has shed new light on the most-pressing challenges facing incarcerated students and how issues like student debt, the return of Pell Grants for incarcerated students, and limited access to technology are shaping education and career paths during and after incarceration. Open Campus reporting on prison education is supported by Ascendium.