Helping Women Continue Their Education After Prison

19 April 2012

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Some women’s prisons in the United States offer classes for college credit. But when the women gain freedom, they do not have much chance to continue their education. They must follow the terms of their parole. They live outside prison during that period, but still have to obey government rules. They usually have to find work and a place to live.

In two thousand, a woman named Barbara Martinsons started a program to help the former prisoners. She established the College and Community Fellowship, or CCF.

Ms. Martinsons taught at Manhattan Marymount College in New York City. And she has taught college courses at a New York state women’s prison. She believes that women should get higher education. She also believes freed prisoners should continue that education.

CCF provides advice to former prisoners. It also helps them gain admission to college. That process can be very difficult for anyone, let alone a person with a prison record. The group also provides financial aid to members attending college.

Today, CCF Fellows, as members are called, have earned college degrees, including masters’ degrees and a doctorate. About seventy percent of those taking part in the program work full-time while studying.

Nationally, one in three women who has been in prison returns to jail for committing crimes. Or, they have violated the terms of their parole. By comparison, almost no CCF fellows go back to jail.