CURA study shows Minnesota’s higher education in prison programs are on the path to success
Minnesota’s innovative higher education in prison programs are showing promising results, according to a new evaluation conducted by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA).
Lead researcher Shana Riddick notes that the study's findings reveal a wide range of benefits that extend beyond academic achievement—benefits that include personal growth and the strengthening of communities beyond prison walls.
The study is the first of its kind in Minnesota and is unique in incorporating the perspectives of participating students’ families and friends, reflecting CURA’s values of deep partnership and drawing on the shared expertise of research participants. “Our evaluation found that while additional support and improvement are needed, programmatic strengths abound. Impactful change is taking place in students’ lives—and they’re not the only ones experiencing it,” says Riddick.
A Strategic Priority
Launched in 2021, Minnesota’s higher education in prison programs aim to offer incarcerated individuals the opportunity to earn academic degrees while serving their sentences. Four of Minnesota’s academic institutions—Metro State University, Minneapolis College, Minnesota State University Mankato, and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities—each partnered with the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) to offer either an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree, or coursework toward degree completion.
Initially funded by a one-time grant from the Wisconsin-based Ascendium Education Group, the programs are now supported through Federal Pell Grants, foundation dollars, and investments from participating colleges and universities. Courses are taught by faculty and instructors that span the humanities and social sciences—from math and science to ancient history, literature, political science, and geography. Though supplemental services and resources vary by program, they have included writing workshops, program tutors, and study hall sessions.
The Creation of Roadmap
Riddick, who holds a doctoral degree in education policy and is trained as a qualitative researcher, joined CURA in 2019 as a research associate working on projects that examined housing inequities in the Twin Cities metro area. Her credentials, and prior experience teaching in a New York higher education in prison program, led former DOC Assistant Commissioner Daniel Karpowitz to contract her and CURA to conduct the evaluation. Karpowitz, who was responsible for revamping the Minnesota DOC’s approach to higher education in prison programming, commissioned the evaluation to examine its first year offerings as the initiatives transitioned from existing on paper to operating in practice.
Working through CURA, Riddick and graduate research assistant Adam Lê developed an early-stage process evaluation designed to guide ongoing programming—a kind of roadmap to highlight what’s working, what’s not, and how to navigate toward future success.
The study—Advancing Opportunities for Higher Learning: An Evaluation of Minnesota’s New Higher Education in Prisons Program—draws from data collected from 109 participants, including 52 incarcerated students, 13 representatives from correctional facilities in Lino Lakes, Stillwater, Shakopee, and Faribault, 19 instructors, seven higher education staff, and 17 family members or friends of students. The data was the product of interviews, surveys, classroom observations, and institutional literature.
A Desire to Do Better
Among the evaluation’s findings is the transformative impact of the programs on students. Participants reported a renewed sense of purpose and motivation to stay engaged academically and work toward personal and educational goals. Many noted profound changes in self-perception. The programs offered more than academic enrichment—they fostered a sense of agency and direction in environments where hopelessness can often be prevalent.
One of the compelling aspects of the study was the feedback from students’ families and friends. Eighty percent viewed their loved one as a role model or source of pride for their children and younger relatives, and 81 percent felt increased hope for their loved one’s future upon release. Said one family member: “Even though he’s behind bars, he’s showing leadership. When I say leadership, he’s showing his kid—because kids look up to their fathers wherever they are. Or mother, wherever they are. He is showing that you don’t have to get stuck because of your environment or situation. You can still reach out and grow within.”
The study also emphasized the importance of alumni networks—specifically, connections between the graduate and their alma mater. Within this context, alumni networks were needed for graduates who were released and those who were still incarcerated. Students, as well as their family and friends, wanted alumni networks to help graduates remain connected to their higher education programs, if released to help them find employment, and/or access graduate programs.
At the time of the evaluation, the majority of current and soon-to-be graduates were incarcerated. Through interviews, those alumni were specifically fearful of losing access to a program in which they were valued as a person, their success was championed, and they were intellectually stimulated. In evaluation interviews, intellectual atrophy was repeatedly described by students when reflecting upon the larger prison environment.
Tools for Success
A key feature of Minnesota’s higher education in prison programs is a desire for each program to reflect their traditional main campus counterpart in terms of the timetable for degree completion, rigorous course offerings, and the expectations placed upon learners. At the time of the evaluation, DOC personnel, higher education partners, and students—many of whom had participated in former Minnesota college in prison programs or had taken courses on their college’s main campus prior to incarceration—agreed that these objectives were being met.
With policy and procedural changes enacted by both the higher education partners and the DOC, as well as a call by the DOC from the new programs’ inception indicating that the correctional system would bend to meet higher education partners’ needs, the stage was set for a new dawn in Minnesota’s higher education in prison programming.
Riddick’s evaluation, however, found that the necessary foundational supports were not always consistently implemented. The study identified gaps in both human and physical resources, though they manifested differently across programs (and their partnering correctional facility). These included insufficient Wi-Fi connectivity/bandwidth strength to properly run an essential learning tool, tablet quality and academic software, classroom technology, library systems/databases, and a lack of academic support for study and writing skills.
Continuity and Commitment
While she found that Minnesota’s higher education in prison programs are on the right track, Riddick emphasizes the need for continued collaboration between the DOC and the higher education partners. “With the proper investments and time, these programs could prove to be excellent tools in decreasing recidivism and helping participants continue to evolve as learners,” she says.
According to a 2013 RAND Corporation study, incarcerated individuals who participated in educational programs were 43 percent less likely to reoffend upon release. Riddick notes that while reducing recidivism is a key goal for many, the programs also serve other important functions. “First and foremost, a program’s impact is experienced by the student,” she says. “Students are the primary beneficiary of their education. And for those who may never be released, recidivism rates are not a factor, but their sense of self and pride in their capabilities are.”
“Impactful change is taking place in students’ lives,” Riddick concludes. “However, students are not the only ones experiencing that growth, as it’s also witnessed by family and friends, higher education partners, and facility staff. With continued investment in these programs, which support both incarcerated learners and those able to continue their education on traditional campuses, larger societal communities should experience it too.”
story by Nina Shepherd
