Second Chance Pell Grant program

The Marshall Project publishes stories about the experiences of those impacted by the penal system. It does so in the one place most incarcerated people don’t have access to: online.

That changed when Lawrence Bartley returned to society after serving 27 years in prison. He’s now the producer of Inside News Magazine, which shares stories, published on The Marshall Project website, in print form for people in prison.

Bartley hopes incarcerated people engage with the articles he’s compiled– about legal developments, prison programs, hope, social science and life inside– and build off them as he eventually did.

Sentenced to life when he was 17, the Jamaica Queens, NY, native started out blaming others for his predicament. Eventually he learned to take accountability and sought an education at Sing Sing, a prison just outside of New York City. Due to the fact that private funding has taken over where the Pell grants ended, Bartley managed to earn a master’s degree in professional studies.

In college at Sing Sing, he learned a valuable lesson: to always have a pitch ready.

Jim Ziolkowski, CEO of BuildOn, an international non-profit, visited Bartley’s class at Sing Sing. Ziolkowski had a great discussion with the class and left. Bartley said afterward, the professor “cursed the class out.”

“I brought this dude in here who’s been all around the world and none of y’all had a pitch ready,” Bartley quoted his professor as saying.

Bartley took the lesson to heart.

While at Sing Sing, Bartley also helped put together a TEDx Talk and, along with a small group of others, he invited legislators into the prison to discuss laws.

Lawrence Bartley speaking with NBC’s Lestor Holt

“The rate of parole releases doubled since our Senatorial meeting in 2011,” Bartley said. “I’d like to think we made some moves toward making that happen.”

Because of the positive moves Bartley made, the administration at Sing Sing called on him and his group of about five men whenever a VIP guest visited, which included Warren and Doris Buffett, ??? Usher, Harry Belafonte, Ice T, the department of probation and the chief of police.

Despite the success gained for incarcerated people, other residents called them a “secret society.”

“We made moves to put people down with it, and they weren’t ready to do the work,” Bartley said. “We never ostracized anyone though; we kept giving them chances.”

It was Bartley’s struggle to make parole that helped get him a job with The Marshall Project. Denied five times by the board, he wrote about his experience and sent the story to The Marshall Project, which published it in its “Life Inside” section. After he made parole on the next try in 2018, he walked through the doors of The Marshall Project’s offices to talk about his experiences and landed himself a job.

The lesson he learned in prison about pitching led to the creation of Inside News. Bartley prepared a pitch with help from colleagues Andrew Epstein and Alex Tatusian to get The Marshall Project into dozens of prisons.

“I lined up all my ducks on how we gonna do it, how much it was gonna cost, what pilot facility I was gonna use and laid out my pitch,” Bartley said.

The pitch Bartley gave was accepted, and he has rapidly expanded Inside News from one pilot prison to 38 and counting.

Just 14 months after coming home on parole, he bought a house in Connecticut for the wife who stuck with him through his incarceration and their kids.

However, 90 days later, New York parole hadn’t approved his transfer, so he had to stay in New York.

“I was used to not being around my family in prison, but it’s totally different when you’re around them everyday,” Bartley said. “The system is supposed to be there to help you when you’re doing good.”

Bartley has to wait to rejoin his family, but in the meantime, he is happy that they will get a good education in the upper middle class Connecticut neighborhood.

“I’m most proud of my children’s education,” Bartley said.

Some California prisoners are working hard on college degrees to help them be successful when they return to their communities.

One of the latest examples is the English 99 class at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa, which leads to an associate of arts college degree.

“The level of critical thought and commentary is much higher than I would typically get from a room where I’m teaching 18- to 21-year-olds,” said John Rieder of Southwestern College, who teaches the class.

“According to a RAND analysis, every $1 invested in such [inmate] education generates at least $4 in economic return,” reports Fast Company.

“The state typically spends $71,000 a year to house an inmate. It costs about $5,000 total to help put one [incarcerated] student through community college”, reports Fast Company.

The higher education opportunity for prisoners is part of an Obama-era pilot program that extended Pell Grants to 12,000 prisoners.

A KPBS news story in April said the Trump administration could end the grants, so the focus of the program is to get those involved into caps and gowns, reduce recidivism, and demonstrate to the government the importance of the Second Chance Pell Grant program.

The class has helped defuse racial tension on a population yard where there has been racial politics, according to Jason Hicks, who helps coordinate the Southwestern program.

According to Hicks, racial tension disappears when they get into a classroom, “You’ll notice that the guys are willing to help each other out. I think it really show rehabilitation at its best.”

Collectively the students had a 3.91 grade point average at the beginning of the semester, according to the article.

For many California department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) prisoners, their only option to earn an associate degree prior to the program was distant learning courses. These correspondence courses require prisoners to purchase books most could not afford without the Pell Grants.

Rieder said his class draws on psychology, philosophy, and poetry to explore the themes of education and power.

He added, “Higher education leads to empowerment.’ And that’s a great narrative. I love that narrative.”

The students wear light blue shirts and navy pants with CDCR PRISONER printed in bold yellow letters. They carry their books, papers and pens in clear plastic bags instead of book bags.

Student Kyle Baughman, 31, who has hazel eyes and a star tattooed onto his shaved head, brings up critical discussions in class about education.

“Hey, do you guys see some kind of connection?” he asks his classmates. “The kids of judges and lawyers and the people that make all this money, they’re taught differently, as opposed to the way we’re taught.”

He grew up in Orange County’s criminal justice system, according to the article. He earned his high school diploma while in Juvenile Hall.

“Most of the schools I went to growing up were probation schools,” Baughman said. “I felt like, if I didn’t go, I’m going to get locked up.”

His involvement with criminals and a gang resulted in crimes of carjacking and robbery, which earned him an enhanced sentence of 15 years to life.

In Rieder’s class, Baughman has the opportunity to work out some of the large things that may have brought him to prison, according to the KPBS article.

“The inmate is now looking at things in a different light. They are looking to see how to better themselves,” said Lance Eshelman, the Donovan Community Resources Manager.

http://sanquentinnews.com/prison-univ-project-awards-degrees-to-seven-graduates/

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