Schools Offering College Courses to Inmates - Tennessee

Program Website:www.THEInitiativeTN.org

Contacts: Julie L. Doochin, Founder/Director, THEInitiativeTN@gmail.com, (615) 400-7811

Program Description: THE Initiative offers on-site, college courses for credit to the incarcerated leading to the possible attainment of an associates’ degree. Credits earned from these courses are recognized and transferable to any Tennessee Board of Regents College or University, as well as certain private and public colleges and universities outside of Tennessee in the Southeastern region (i.e. SACS schools). Upon release, THE Initiative encourages and helps formerly incarcerated students continue their academic pursuits.

The program began in Jan. 2012 with the college program at Charles Bass Correctional Complex for men in Nashville, Tennessee. At present, on-site courses and credits are offered by and through Nashville State Community College. The students are true NSCC students who happen to be incarcerated. Professors are full-time or adjunct at NSCC. Based upon a cohort model, 25 men move through the program together, taking two courses per semester. The program was initially funded by a federal youth offender grant to states, which expired Dec. 31, 2012. Now the program is funded by the new non-profit, the Tennessee Higher Education Initiative Inc. – founded for this purpose. Credits earned from these courses are recognized and transferable to any Tennessee Board of Regents College or University, as well as certain private and public colleges and universities outside of Tennessee in the Southeastern region (i.e. SACS schools). These courses/credits form the general core of the Associate’s degree at any public college or university in Tennessee, and therefore put the students on the pathway towards earning an Associate’s degree. In order to be admitted to the program, each applicant must take the standard TN college placement exam, ACT/Compass, and place at college level (there is no remedial in this program); complete the application, write an essay, and pay $20 admissions fee each semester.

The federal grant covered significant technology, which was requested in order to provide the incarcerated students the same technology, to the extent possible, available to NSCC campus students. The prison was awarded a state of the art computer lab featuring 27 Dell desk-top computers, laser printer, a smart board and smart projector. The computers have software that is not internet-based. The prisoners do not have access to the internet, but are gaining much needed computer skills (i.e. excel, powerpoint, Microsoft office…), which will help them survive in a 21st century digital world, by using the computers to complete assignments for their courses. The instructors also use the computers to vary instruction methods.

In the future, we hope to facilitate greater access to quality post-secondary education and professional training for all correctional staff, whether on-site (in separate courses) or on the college campus.

Programs/Degrees Offered: Take liberal arts courses for credit leading to the AA degree (general core courses for TN Board of Regents curriculum). Hope to offer full AA degree soon.

Headquarters:Nashville, TN

Correctional Facilities Served: Charles Bass Correctional Complex (Nashville, TN) – since Jan. 2012, Turney Center Industrial Complex (Only, TN) – Summer 2013

Population Served: Growing out of the former federal grant guidelines, most men are under the age of 35 with less than 7 years on their sentences. Now under private funding since Jan. 2013, this stipulation has gone away. but the population still leans towards younger males. Both programs are at medium security facilities. On-going the program will serve incarcerated men and women who meet the admissions criteria.

Number of Students:25-30 at present

Graduates to Date:NA

Year Founded:2012

Founders: Julie L. Doochin

College/University/Organization Partnerships: Nashville State Community College, Tennessee Dept. of Corrections, Tennessee Higher Education Initiative, Inc.

Funding:Federal Youth Offender (IYO) Grant to States (Nov. 2011 – Dec. 2012). Now funded privately through non-profit: Tennessee Higher Education Initiative Inc. (Jan. 2013 on…)

LIFE College (Lipscomb Initiative for Education)

Program Website: http://life.lipscomb.edu/default.asp?SID=244

Contacts: Richard Goode, 615.966.5748, richard.goode@lipscomb.edu

Program Description: The LIFE (Lipscomb Initiative for Education) Program provides Lipscomb University students an academic and service-learning experience like few others. Up to 30 students each semester enroll in a liberal arts course held on-site at the Tennessee Prison for Women (TPFW) and study alongside 30 incarcerated people of the prison. The mix of students and specifically designed coursework provides academic and character-building benefits for both students at the prison and students from campus.

The program believes that America’s criminal justice system tends to dehumanize the incarcerated. Mainstream society, for example, seldom sees the incarcerated people and thus develops certain perceptions. Many of these presumptions are false: “When we all get in a room together, we see the humanity of one another. The campus students begin to realize we aren’t all that different, and the women at the prison are eager for human contact and interesting conversation. As together we reframe our concepts of community, we are all enlightened and challenged.”

Degrees Offered: LIFE College is in the process of creating an Associate in Arts degree. (The LIFE Academy offers non-credit workshops in a wide range of subjects)

Programs Offered: The LIFE College takes courses from the traditional Lipscomb University curriculum and relocates them from campus to the TN Prison for Women. Generally, the same faculty that would have taught the course on campus, teaches the course at the TPW. Qualified TPW candidates are admitted as Lipscomb University students. “Traditional” Lipscomb students seeking to take a “relocated” class travel to the TPW to study with their Lipscomb peers residing there. Thus all students in the class at the TPW are Lipscomb University students, earning college credit for their work.

Unique Features: The LIFE Program is unique in that every student in the classroom is a Lipscomb student. ”Outside” students are working on bachelors degrees, while “inside” students are working toward 18 hours of liberal arts credit that can be transferred to most universities. LIFE College students produce a yearly creative arts journal entitled Chiaroscuro.

Headquarters: Nashville, TN

Correctional Facilities Served: Tennessee Prison for Women (TPFW)

Population Served: Women incarcerated at the TPFW (“inside students”) and traditional LU students (“outside students”). TPFW students were required to have passed the General Educational Development (GED) test, to have a clean behavioral record and to have at least two years left on their sentence.

Number of Students: 30 women from TPW, and up to 30 traditional LU students

Graduates to Date: N/A

Year Founded: 2007

Founders: N/A

College/University/Organization Partnerships: Lipscomb University

Funding: Lipscomb University has discounted its tuition for TPFW students, allowing them to attend each three-hour class for $450. The LIFE program coordinators raise money for the $450 tuition from the public and nonprofit foundations.

Inside-Out Program (Nashville)

Program Websites:
http://www.trionashville.com/about_us.html
http://www.insideoutcenter.org

Contacts: Janet Wolf, jwolf@abcnash.edu

Program Description: Sisters Glenda Lingo (Parents in Prison) and Rev. Janet Wolf (American Baptist College) adapted the national Inside-Out curriculum for Tennessee and initiated the first Inside-Out course in the Southeast in 2005. Since then, American Baptist College have followed Lori Pompa’s model for collaborative insider-outside learning (see Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, headquartered in Philadelphia, PA for more details about the program structure).

Degrees Offered: No degree offered

Programs Offered: 2008, “Restorative Justice” (Sociology)

Unique Features: N/A

Headquarters: Nashville, TN

Correctional Facilities Served: Charles Bass Correctional Complex

Population Served: People who are incarcerated (“inside” students) and students from American Baptist and Belmont (“outside students”) (equal numbers of each in every class)

Number of Students: About 20 (varies with number of “outside” students)

Graduates to Date: N/A

Year Founded: 2005 (American Baptist College adopted model); 2007 (Belmont University adopted model)

Founders: Lori Pompa (founder of Inside-Out model)

College/University/Organization Partnerships: American Baptist College and Belmont University

Funding: N/A