Prisoner rehabilitation through postsecondary education is one of the most contested ideas in criminal justice policy today. At the center of our national debate surrounding crime and punishment are more than 200-year-old questions about the role prisons should play in a civil society. Are America’s prisons designed for corporal punishment, human improvement, or a combination thereof?

In July 2015, the Obama administration announced the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program to support postsecondary opportunities for those incarcerated in federal and state prisons.

Obama's support of providing Pell Grants for prisoners reignited the long-standing "tough on crime" versus rehabilitation debate.

AS the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program begins its second year, the same debates that were present when the federal government began offering Pell Grants for prisoners are alive today. This brief is intended to serve as a primer...

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