The Honorable Lamar Alexander The Honorable Patty Murray United States Senate United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and Pensions Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510 July 24, 2019 RE: Restore Pell grant eligibility for incarcerated students without exceptions Dear Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray: As teachers of incarcerated college students and as experts on correctional education we are pleased by the gathering political momentum for restoring access to federal Pell grants to people in prison. We are deeply troubled, however, by early indications that those sentenced to life without the possibility of parole – approximately 53,000 people1 – may continue to be excluded from Pell eligibility. We urge the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to advance legislation, like S.1074 – the Restoring Education and Learning (REAL) Act of 2019 – to end the ban on Pell grant eligibility for incarcerated students without exceptions. Beginning in the 1970s the United States dramatically expanded the use of incarceration, reaching approximately 2.2 million people in prisons and jails today. With the substantial growth in incarceration came harsh attitudes about people convicted of crimes, prison overcrowding, and fewer resources for rehabilitation and programming. The ideal of rehabilitation faded, and prisons became known for human warehousing. The government’s disinvestment from higher education opportunities for imprisoned people in the 1990s was an expression of these misguided policies. Thankfully, attitudes are changing. The public increasingly understands that people convicted of crimes remain a part of our community even when they are incarcerated. Moreover, harsh prison conditions are harmful to the psychological well-being of people in prison, including staff, and to their families. Steps must be implemented to counter the negative repercussions of prolonged imprisonment and the educational skills and social networks acquired in prison classrooms are critical elements. In our experience, people serving very long sentences are frequently our most committed and talented students and are essential to the intellectual cultures we work to foster. We value the important role we can play as prison educators to help our students eventually avoid reincarceration, but we do not see our efforts as limited to that narrowly measurable goal. Rather, education is an intrinsic good. A college education can help a person to live a richer and more meaningful and productive life within the conditions of captivity. Indeed, research finds people 1 Nellis, A. 2017. Still life: America’s increasing use of life and long-term sentences. Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project. sentenced to life “act as a stabilizing rather than disruptive force in the prison environment.”2 A college-educated life-sentenced individual can inspire and inform those around them. Those who teach in prison regularly witness the role that people serving life play in prison communities as role models and leaders. While serious crimes, including murder, have generally declined for the past 25 years nationwide, the number of people receiving life without parole sentences has continued to rise. One of every 28 people in prison is serving a life without parole sentence, or, as it is alternatively known, death-by-incarceration. Changes in sentencing policy, informed by Supreme Court precedent and evolving understanding of the effectiveness of incarceration, have increased opportunities for release of people once expected to die in prison. Indeed, since last December dozens of people serving life without parole in federal prison have been released under a provision of the First Step Act of 2018. Executive clemency and exonerations at the state and federal level have also led to the release of some people previously expected to die in prison. These trends are likely to continue nationwide. We believe it unwise to exclude people from rehabilitative opportunities essential to successful reintegration into the community. The same emergent common sense that properly regards a college education as a sustaining and transformational force for incarcerated people in our country, and therefore worthy of public investment, should insist on this important principle as one without exceptions. Thank you for your interest in Pell grant restoration for people in prison. We urge you and your Senate colleagues to ensure all people are given the opportunity to learn, grow, and contribute to their communities. For more information contact Katherine Beckett, Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington: [email protected]. Sincerely,* ALABAMA Auburn Rob Hitt, Program Coordinator, Alabama Prison Arts & Education Project Shaelyn Smith, Auburn University Birmingham Amy Badham, Director for the Office of Service Learning and Undergraduate Research, University of Alabama at Birmingham Natalie Campbell, Higher Education in Prison & Unlock Higher Ed Florence Katie Owens-Murphy, Associate Professor, University of North Alabama ARIZONA Phoenix Rachel Fedock, Arizona State University Rachel Sims, Assistant Professor, Phoenix College Tempe Joe Lockard, Associate Professor, Arizona State University 2 Cunningham, M.D. and J.R. Sorensen. 2006. Nothing to lose? A comparative examination of prison misconduct rates among life-without-parole and other long-term high-security inmates. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 33: 683-705. CALIFORNIA Berkeley Peter Esmonde, Senior Advisor, Vireo Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation Danny Murillo, Research and Program Analyst, The Opportunity Institute Chico Michael J. Coyle, Professor, California State University at Chico Claremont Susan Castagnetto, Scripps College Johanna Hardin, Professor, Pomona College Karl Haushalter, Professor, Harvey Mudd College Nicole Holliday, Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Pomona College Fullerton Brady Heiner, Associate Professor, California State University-Fullerton Romarilyn Ralston, Program Director of Project Rebound, California State University-Fullerton Irvine Aaron Bornstein, Assistant Professor, University of California-Irvine Corina Espinoza, Lecturer, University of California-Irvine Keramet Reiter, Associate Professor, University of California-Irvine Los Angeles Avriel Epps, Harvard University Adrian H. Huerta, Assistant Professor, Pullias Center for Higher Education, University of Southern California Taffany Lim, Senior Director of Center for Engagement, Service & the Public Good, California State University- Los Angeles Daniel Scott, PhD Fellow and Research Assistant, University of Southern California Sharon Dolovich, Professor of Law & Director of UCLA Prison Law and Policy Program, University of California-Los Angeles School of Law Katherine Lorenz, Assistant Professor, California State University-Northridge Oakland Angelica Camacho, Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University Carleen Mandolfo, Associate Vice President of Faculty Affairs, San Francisco State University Otay Mesa Gabe J. Rosales, Rehabilitative Songwriting Instructor, Jail Guitar Doors Palo Alto Kara Hollis, Stanford Law School Redlands Brian Charest, Assistant Professor, University of Redlands Jennifer Tilton, Professor, University of Redlands San Francisco Chloe Elle, Teach for America Roam Romagnoli, San Francisco State, Santa Rosa Junior College Amie Dowling, Associate Professor, University of San Francisco Samantha Luo, Calico San Jose William Smoot, Adjunct Professor, Prison University Project at San Quentin Prison San Luis Obispo Ryan Alaniz, Associate Professor of Sociology, California Polytechnic State University, Cuesta College Santa Barbara Adam Burston, Ph.D. Student, University of California-Santa Barbara Estibalitz Ezkerra Vegas, Lecturer in Basque Studies, University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Clara W. David Ball, Associate Professor, Santa Clara Law School Linda C Starr, Clinical Professor of Law and Executive Director, Northern CA Innocence Project Santa Cruz Ying Feng, University of California-Santa Cruz Tiffany Hsyu, Graduate Student Researcher, University of California-Santa Cruz Amanda Quirk, Project for Inmate Education, University of California-Santa Cruz Andrew Skemer, Assistant Professor, University of California-Santa Cruz Tyler Takaro, Graduate Student, University of California- Santa Cruz Asher Wasserman, Graduate Student Instructor, University of California-Santa Cruz Santa Rosa Amber Shields, Teacher COLORADO Alamosa James Bullington, Coordinator of Prison College Program, Adams State University Boulder Joanne Belknap, Past-President of the American Society of Criminology, University of Colorado-Boulder Denver Sarah Tyson, Associate Professor, University of Colorado-Denver Pueblo Colleen Hackett, Assistant Professor, Colorado State University-Pueblo CONNECTICUT Hamden Linda Meyer, Professor of Law, Quinnipiac University Middletown Lori Gruen, William Griffin Professor of Philosophy, Wesleyan University New Haven Nicole Rene Atchison, United Church on the Green James Forman, Professor, Yale Law School Amy B. Smoyer, Assistant Professor, Southern Connecticut State University DELAWARE Wilmington Romie Griesmer, Inside-Out Instructor, University of Delaware Law School Benjamin Fleury-Steiner, Professor of Criminal Justice, Inside-Out Prison Exchange, University of Delaware DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Joshua A. Miller, Director of Education, Prisons and Justice Initiative, Georgetown University Marc Howard, Professor, Georgetown