It has been awhile since I have posted anything new to this blog, because our efforts have been delayed. Currently, we're working on figuring out our next steps, as it appears the aforementioned inmate letters to legislators asking for reinstatement require institutional approval in order to be posted to a public blog. This is understandable, as penal institutions must consider public interests when it comes to communication coming from the inside. However, our hope is that we can share some of those moving letters on this blog, very soon.
In continuing to assert our reasoning for this mission, think of this: Education is (or should be) a human right, and it is paid for--at least in America--by all of its citizens, to ensure it is freely accessible to all people through secondary school. Although post-secondary education is subsidized for those eligible for grants and scholarships, it does come with a hefty fee, and that is most often covered by loans. Most of us are aware of the current public discourse on higher education's exorbitant and oppressive cost hanging over us once we graduate. However, those hard-won grants and scholarships do help with the cost of higher education, making it available to people who normally wouldn't be able to afford it, the poor and under-privileged.
Despite the vitriolic comments of many an Internet troll, America's incarcerated still qualify as citizens. Once they are released, they are reentering society as tax-paying individuals to whom most rights are restored (those rights that are still rescinded is the stuff of another conversation). We understand, in our current economic climate, it is nearly impossible to secure a job that will sustain oneself and/or a family without a post-secondary degree, so when someone reenters society with such factors as a criminal record, the requirement to disclose that history on job applications and the bias that already exists against hiring ex-offenders, having a degree could be the key to reversing those attitudes and practices. And that could result in the ability to earn a livable wage.
And how else is he or she going to acquire said livable wage if not educated while in prison? The only way it can be done is if Pell Grants are reinstated.
But what about those loans?--some ask. Maybe we should make that an option instead of "free money" for felons. Well, if we opened up the possibility of loan borrowing for the incarcerated person, who is likely to have entered prison already impoverished and is working for pennies a day if jobs are available on the inside, will return to society with even more disadvantages because now he or she will emerge deeply indebted in the face of all his or her other hurdles. Sure, even our free citizens are straining against huge school loan debt, but at least they do have the possibility of applying for grants (including Pell) toward their education and may already be working while going to school. The loan debt, although seemingly necessary for a lot of us, is an elective decision (I should know, I've willingly signed mountains of paperwork tying me to my own indentured servitude to Sallie Mae). But this elective decision should be left to those who are free and at least have a better opportunity of garnering employment, as opposed to currently incarcerated people who will be forced to create even more difficulty for themselves upon release by signing away their lives to finance companies. Why not instead, have them emerge with credentials garnered through Pell grant disbursement, which could enhance their abilities to quickly become contributing citizens--not only as taxpayers and voters, but as future teachers or other people in society who are effecting change?
Our discussions and advocacy of reinstating Pell grants is merely about reality and reason, and is not calling for overhauling the entire system of mass incarceration, although there is value in that too, and there are plenty of ways to get involved in the cause. However, this effort is about helping us help ourselves, by educating minds and changing lives. It is attempting to show how increasing the likelihood of incarcerated people's success post-release will benefit us as a society, and that it is not only people on the outside calling for reinstatement, but men and women inside, too.
In the meantime, we have been thinking of ways to get the word out to the public on this important issue. Of course, linking to the EIOC and agencies with similar goals is one way to network this theme, but we're just a fledgling grassroots effort and our coverage needs to expand. So, it's back to the drawing board for now. Look for more (and more frequent) updates in the future!
