Virtual Inside/Out: A Prison to School Pipeline

Regis University is offering incarcerated men and women in four Colorado correctional facilities the opportunity to earn college credit in video-linked remote classrooms alongside on-campus Regis students. Your donation to this transformative educational initiative has the potential to alter the course of someone’s life forever.

The Inside/Out program, launched via a partnership between Regis’ School for Professional Advancement and the Colorado Department of Corrections, pairs 18 prisoners with seven Regis students in a virtual simultaneous class.

The students who are incarcerated will be approved for participation by prison officials. They will take a total of five liberal arts courses, each offered one at a time, in accelerated eight-week terms. The accelerated format allows the imprisoned students to earn 18 credits toward a Bachelor of Arts degree in one year.

The virtual mingling of incarcerated “inside” and non-incarcerated “outside” students will create a radically diverse and powerful learning experience for both student groups. For outside students, the program will help to build empathy, open minds, and empower these undergraduates to learn from and stand with the marginalized. For the inside students, the educational opportunities this program creates will help give them the tools they need to successfully re-enter their communities and serve the common good. The program also has the power to help reduce the rate of recidivism among participants.

According to a study by the U.S. Department of Justice and the RAND Corp., those who participated in a prison education program are 43% less likely to return to prison than inmates who did not. There is no more powerful tool against recidivism than education.

Your support will help to cover the cost of tuition for the incarcerated students for one year until Pell Grant funding is available in 2023, at which point the program will become self-sustaining. Please consider a donation on Regis Gives Day in support of this powerful program. Your gift could change a life.