Historically Black College and University professors at Bowie State University are making history. The Maryland school is become the first HBCU in the state to help incarcerated men earn their degree.
As reported by AfroTech, the program has been able to give incarcerated students another chance to excel once they’re released from prison, as well as stay out of trouble while they’re in prison.
The bachelor degree program has already begun to improve outlooks for recently released inmates, making it 48% less likely for formerly incarcerated people to return to prison after their initial release.
Chair of Bowie State University’s department of criminal justice emphasized the importance of the BSU program for Jessup Correctional inmates.
Although the program is predicted to take up to seven years for Jessup Correctional students to finish, Adams admitted that he would be on board for anyone who wanted to up their classes load in order to finish earlier. The HBCU is already set to launch a pilot program for incarcerated women this fall if all goes well.
The successful program is already doing great work, but Adams told the outlet that they desperately need more resources. The incarcerated students have been dedicated to their learning, but professors have expressed a need to open up more classes, more authorized tutoring time, more professors willing to teach, books, materials such as printers and projectors, and access to online research journals conducive to learning. Some professors have even taken to pushing to make themselves available to work on weekends to make sure Jessup Correctional students have time to meet with tutors face to face.
Adams reported to the outlet that BSU is “‘aggressively’ seeking external funding and working to hire more staff, like adjunct professors.”
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Source: Black Enterprise
