Jose Vidaurri was serving more than 20 years in prison when he got serious about his education. He got his GED while incarcerated — it was the first time he remembers his mom being proud of him. Then he became the first person in his family to go to college.
“When I was told, ‘You have the opportunity to attend a university,’ while I was sitting in prison, that was a big form of acknowledging my humanity,” Vidaurri said.
Vidaurri was released from prison four months ago. He has struggled to find employment and to support himself. He said he understands why people fall into old patterns, commit new crimes and end up returning to prison.
But because the education he started in prison changed the way he sees himself, he said, “That’s not an option for me.”
Researchers have found that higher education is one of the most effective ways to prevent people who have been incarcerated from re-offending. Yet just 615 out of 29,470 inmates in Illinois are enrolled in college classes, according to the Education Justice Project based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Only seven of the state’s 26 prisons offer any higher education programming, and at the facilities that do have courses available, just a fraction of inmates can take part.
But legislation reintroduced in the General Assembly this session could expand access by restoring state financial aid for incarcerated students. That funding could prompt more universities to bring their classes into prisons.
“When I’m … trying to help professors talk [university] administrators into the idea of bringing their degree into the prison, money is the bottom line,” said Jessica Neptune with the Bard Prison Initiative, which helped pass similar legislation in New York.
Illinois once offered some form of higher education in every prison. But in 1987, state lawmakers passed legislation barring incarcerated students from receiving state financial aid for college, including the MAP grant for low-income students. Shortly after, Congress took away federal financial aid.
Since then, colleges have had to rely mostly on private funding to operate programs in prisons, which can be an expensive endeavor.
“We cannot talk as many universities as we need into doing this work, to serve the various prisons all across the state, without them knowing they have a ballast of public money that they can then blend with private money and do this with real integrity that students who are inside deserve,” Neptune said.
Neptune’s group estimates that awarding MAP grants to incarcerated students will cost just .01% of the program’s budget — and save Illinois taxpayers much more if expanded access to higher education prevents people from getting locked up again.
“This is actually an investment in public safety,” Neptune said.
Advocates say passing the legislation is of particular importance in this moment. Many fear the Trump administration will cut federal funding for incarcerated students, which was recently reinstated. State funding could balance out that potential loss and, supporters hope, get college programs into prisons in all corners of the state.
But the legislation has its doubters.
Delrice Adams, director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, said she’s heard from skeptics who ask, “Why would we put so much into this population [when] there are so many other folks that are in poverty … that really need the support?”
Adams insists it’s not an either-or situation.
“These are members of our communities who are coming home, whether we like it or not, and to give them that level of hope, but also restoration — I just think it’s the most humane thing to do for every individual,” she said.
Furthermore, Adams said, giving people in prison access to MAP grants could change the trajectories of families.
Vidaurri with the proud mom, is working on finishing the bachelor’s degree he started in prison. He spoke earlier this month at a higher education in prison conference.
“We shouldn’t look at it as just, ‘Oh, you’re in prison and you can get a piece of paper and a degree,” he said. “No, these things change people’s lives. It changes the way they look at themselves. It changes the decisions that they make. And these are the same people who are going to come back into these communities.”
Lisa Kurian Philip covers higher education for WBEZ, in partnership with Open Campus. Follow her on Twitter @LAPhilip.