Christian prison reformers applaud plan to give inmates Pell Grants

Prisoners may soon be eligible for federal aid to pay for college under a new Obama administration initiative. The program would allow prisoners access to Pell Grants to fund courses, ending the 20-year ban imposed by Congress.

The Education and Justice departments are expected to make the announcement Friday at the Maryland Correctional Institution.

The move comes amid talk of overhauling the justice system in an effort to provide opportunities to prisoners that could reduce recidivism.

Craig DeRoche, executive director of Justice Fellowship, a Christian public policy group affiliated with Prison Fellowship that focuses on criminal justice reform, believes this proposal is a positive move.

“It says to the person, we want you to succeed,” he said. “We don’t want you to be punished for something you did 20 years ago for the rest of your life.”

DeRoche, who spent some time in jail once, said the American culture is judgmental toward prisoners. But Prison Fellowship believes every life deserves dignity and value. The organization offers four-year programs to reintegrate prisoners to society and has seen former criminals turn their lives around through education.

“There has been a lack of hope in the prison systems and educational opportunities set them up for success,” DeRoche said. “Justice systems should be structured in a manner that prisoners can leave a life of crime and not create future victims.”

When Congress adopted the ban against giving Pell Grants to prisoners in 1994, it had wide public support. Now public opinion seems to be shifting. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed support for such a policy, and House Republicans, including Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., have introduced legislation for responsible justice reform.

Prisoners who participate in correctional education programs are 43 percent less likely to return to prison and 13 percent more likely to have a job after finishing their sentence, the bill’s co-sponsors noted.

But some Republicans aren’t convinced.

“How we ensure the long-term sustainability of the Pell Grant program needs to be a national conversation, and as part of that conversation, we should discuss whether this aid can help incarcerated individuals become productive members of society,” House Education and the Workforce Committee chairman Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., said in a statement.

The administration can’t lift the ban on Pell grants without Congressional approval, but the Education Department can use its authority to temporarily run a pilot program.

The full details of the pilot program will come Friday, but President Barack Obama may need to use that opportunity to change public perception of the reforms.

“My hope is that the president would work with Congress to restore the prison system in an equitable and appropriate way,” DeRoche said.