Thanks to ACE membership at California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), California prison inmates now have the opportunity to earn a master's degree.
The university has partnered with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to offer the state's first graduate degree for incarcerated people, a master's in humanities degree called HUX.
“Too often, the focus is on punishment rather than rehabilitation, and the humanity of incarcerated individuals is disregarded,” said CSUDH President Thomas A. Parham. breaking news, the university's student newspaper. “HUX was founded on the principle that incarcerated students deserve investment, education, and rehabilitation.”
Prison education programs declined sharply after the federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was enacted in 1994, but have experienced a resurgence in the past decade. Congress recently repealed a law that excluded prisoners from Pell Grant eligibility, making higher education more affordable for thousands of inmates as of July 2023. Post-secondary education in prison produced particularly strong benefits, reducing recidivism rates by more than 27 percent and increasing employment prospects. Increase by 10%.
Previously, inmates had access to the original HUX program, a correspondence-based degree first offered in 1974. However, CSUDH decided to discontinue this program in 2016 due to declining enrollment. In recent years, education in prisons has expanded and more inmates are earning bachelor's degrees. A group of these students launched a campaign to continue their education, conducted surveys and wrote letters to many educational institutions. In response to their support, CSUDH's College of Arts and Humanities partnered with the Department of Continuing and Professional Education to modify and relaunch a distance master's program specifically for incarcerated students.
HUX launched in September 2023 with an initial cohort of 33 students across 11 prisons. A student can apply to HUX as long as he has a bachelor's degree (whether in prison or previously earned a bachelor's degree) and he graduates with at least a 2.5 GPA. The degree takes two years to complete and allows students to focus on subjects that include penal perspectives. religion, morality, spirituality. Expand your horizons. and urban development.
Students who participate in the program attest to the transformative effects of the education they receive.
“I think I've seen people change after 30 years of incarceration,” said Darrell Dotel Williams, a student at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison. Los Angeles Times. “It could be because they fell in love. It could just be due to the natural stages of maturation and aging. But overall, it's the biggest influence on all of our lives. I think what we need is education.”
Because prison security protocols limit the use of video calls and other synchronous tools, HUX students study more independently than students in regular online courses. Students receive laptops to complete coursework. This involves asynchronous video lessons, discussion boards, written assignments, and her regular one-on-one check-ins with professors. Matthew Luckett, HUX program coordinator and director, said the aim is to increase student interaction and introduce in-person lesson opportunities as early as next year.
The degree costs approximately $10,500. Students have access to financial aid from the California Department of Rehabilitation, and nearly all students in the current cohort received enough aid to cover tuition and books.
The program's designers aim to equip degree students with the skills to effectively communicate and advocate whether they are in prison, serving a life sentence, or after release. . They hope HUX will inspire similar programs across the country.
“There are few programs, academic or otherwise, that have a higher return on investment than prison education programs,” Luckett told CSUDH. “Our students don’t just come out of prison, they become leaders in their communities.”
