IF EDUCATION IS key to a better life, that may hold double for those who are incarcerated. People who land in prison tend to have low educational attainment levels, while facing even greater employment challenges when released than those with similar education backgrounds because of the stigma and barriers their conviction carries. 

A report released this week by a regional commission urges New England states to prioritize higher education programming in prisons, making the case that it’s the one of the best ways to reduce recidivism and improve the safety of communities. 

With 95 percent of those in prison eventually returning to the community, the New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison said states should be “working to ensure that every incarcerated person in New England has access to high-quality, workforce-aligned, equitable postsecondary opportunities with a wide range of educational pathways.” 

The report marks the latest move by policymakers, advocates, and corrections officials to rethink the “tough on crime” approach of the 1980s and ‘90s that sent incarceration rates soaring in the US. 

The country is at a “watershed moment” when it comes to prison education, the report says, because on July 1, for the first time in 30 years, those behind bars will become eligible for federal Pell grants that pay for higher education for low-income students. Congress approved the change in a bipartisan spending bill in 2020. 

The 83-member regional commission included lawmakers, advocates, corrections officials, higher education and business leaders, and formerly incarcerated individuals from the six New England states. 

“We were trying to bring everyone to the table,” said Carole Cafferty, a commission member who co-directs the Educational Justice Institute at MIT, which brings MIT students and people in Massachusetts prisons together in classrooms. 

The commission, co-chaired by Lee Perlman, co-director of the MIT institute, and Michael Thomas, president of the New England Board of Higher Education, urged states to expand prison higher education, beginning with assessments at the beginning of incarceration and following and supporting individuals in reintegration to the community following their release. 

Cafferty says the opening up of Pell grant funds to those who are incarcerated is “huge,” and should go a long way toward growing the capacity of higher education programming in prisons. 

Pell grants currently provide up to $6,895 per year in education grants, funding that advocates say could be a game-changer from the current situation of just a few small programs in prisons, largely underwritten by colleges. 

Cafferty served as superintendent of the Middlesex County House of Correction from 2015 to 2018, and was a deputy superintendent at the Suffolk County House of Correction in 1994 when the federal crime bill signed by President Clinton banned Pell funding for those in prison. 

Then-Suffolk County Sheriff Robert Rufo “was all about education and had a booming education division,” she said. “And it came to a screeching halt.” 

Cafferty says the reinstatement of Pell grant eligibility is part of a growing recognition that the “philosophy of retribution” in the criminal justice system works against efforts to make communities safer. The commission report says a RAND Corporation study found those receiving education programming in prison are up to 43 percent less likely to commit new offenses after release than their peers. 

“Education is the great equalizer, and so we’re trying to capitalize on that,” said Cafferty. 

Of the roughly 6,000 people in Massachusetts state prisons, just 213 are enrolled in higher education programs, according to a position paper released last year by the Boston Foundation. It urged Massachusetts to “make genuine, transformative, ambitious college education a central component within its prison system.” 

Massachusetts corrections commissioner Carol Mici served on the New England commission along with two Massachusetts lawmakers, Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, co-chair of the Legislature’s public safety committee, and Sen. Lydia Edwards. 

“Expanding and funding education opportunities during incarceration is a powerful step forward for the Commonwealth to promote equity and protect the dignity of all people in our justice system,” said Edwards. 

MICHAEL JONAS

FROM COMMONWEALTH

Spilka’s take on competitiveness: Senate President Karen Spilka outlined a different version of competitiveness in a speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. She said the Senate tax plan doesn’t call for the elimination of the 12 percent tax on short-term capital gains (as the plans of the House and governor do) because her priority is not the state’s wealthier residents, but those who are 26 to 35 and struggling to live here because of the high cost of housing, health care, and higher education. She said that age group is the one targeted by the Senate budget and its tax plan.

– Spilka also talked about “courageous competitiveness,” a reference to using the state’s diversity and its defense of abortion and personal rights to attract newcomers to the state. “The Senate, House, and governor are all united in this particular approach to competitiveness, but we need the private sector to be declaring and celebrating our values, too. We may not have the year-round warm weather of a Florida or Texas, but we definitely are not afraid to ‘say gay’” she said. Read more.

Healey backs pardons: Calling the decision a no-brainer, Gov. Maura Healey proposes pardons for seven individuals who were convicted of crimes when they were young and haven’t had any involvement with the criminal justice system for decades. Healey attracted attention for issuing the pardons so early in her first term, while most of her predecessors for the last 30 years have waited until the end of their time in office. Read more.

Getting to the bottom of climate change: Thong-wearing activists shut down the Senate, chanting and spelling out a message on their combined butt cheeks that said “Stop passing gas.” Read more.

OPINION

Save the sea turtles: US Sen. Ed Markey, Rep. Bill Keating, and New England Aquarium president and CEO Vikki Spruill say sea turtle strandings are soaring and voluntary rescue efforts no longer cut it. Federal funding is needed, they say. Read more.

 

FROM AROUND THE WEB

 

MUNICIPAL MATTERS  

Boston City Council President Ed Flynn said he’s received messages from across the state – and country – expressing outrage at the $900,000 cut the council made to the city’s veterans’ services office. Flynn and three fellow councilors who voted against the budget containing the cuts say they hope Mayor Michelle Wu will veto the move. (Boston Herald) 

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

Somerville moves closer to opening a supervised drug consumption site that could help prevent overdoses. (WBUR)

ELECTIONS

The special election to replace state Sen. Anne Gobi will take place on November 7. (State House News Service)

EDUCATION

Union advocates and lawmakers are asking the University of Massachusetts Amherst to reverse a recent move that shifted 82 employees out of union positions and made them employees of its private foundation. (Boston Globe)

Students at Nichols Middle School in Middleborough appear to be out of control destroying school property and bullying classmates. (Enterprise News)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Amherst’s wastewater treatment plant is releasing unchlorinated partially treated sewage into the Connecticut River while repairs are being made to the facility. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

The Supreme Judicial Court vacated sex trafficking charges against a Black man after the discovery that his lawyer had issued racist social media posts that suggested he might have been biased against his client. (WBUR)

MEDIA

Bloomberg has canceled “Baystate Business,” the only locally produced radio show it had in Boston, laying off hosts Kim Carrigan, Joe Shortsleeve, and Tom Moroney, as well as on-air staffers Janet Wu and Anne Mostue, and executive producer Peter Lagace. (Boston Globe) 

Andy Tomolonis is taking over as editor of the New Bedford Light on July 15, replacing founding editor Barbara Roessner. 

Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple weighs in on the attacks the New York Times has faced over its coverage of transgender issues and concludes, “The Times is doing what any good news organization would do” in covering debates among medical providers over how to treat trans youth. 

PASSINGS

Mukiya Baker-Gomez, a longtime political activist in Boston’s Black community, died unexpectedly at age 74. (Bay State Banner)