The Saint Louis University College In Prison Program is an initiative that started in 2008 that brings college courses into the Bonne Terre prison.

The program so far has just offered a certificate in theology to inmates, but the program is expanding off four new, general education certificates to a larger number of students.

The SLU CIPP was started by Kenneth Parker, an associate professor of historical theology. Parker got the idea for the program after a watching a particular episode of 60 Minutes that covered other college in prison programs.

“I was given a nudge by one of my tenants, a woman who was in and out of prison 11 times in her early life, but a woman of sterling character now,” Parker said. “She saw the same episode I did. And I said that’s such an incredible idea, taking college courses into prisons. I’d do it, but I’m much too busy. And she had this wonderful line and said, ‘No ones too busy to do the right thing once they see that it needs to be done’.”

Parker said that he took this as a nudge from God to get something started. Eight months later, he found himself inside the Bonne Terre Prison in Missouri with a class of 15 students.

The program took about two and a half years to implement the certificate of theology so that the Department of Corrections could get a feel for the program. A year and a half ago, the department came to Parker and requested that they expand the program.

“So, along with Heather Rich from the Corporate Development Office, we worked to put together a grant application to the Hearst Foundation, which turned out to be successful,” Parker said.

The Hearst Foundation is a private foundation that works in the fields of education, health and social service.  The SLU CIPP received about $150,000 from the Hearst Foundation to put together a program that will provide education for both inmates and prison staff members.

Parker recalled how pleased the program officer from the Hearst Foundation was with the program.

“She said that this is the most inspiring site visit she had in her 23 years with the Hearst Foundation,” Parker said. “It’s because of our students. They’re very impressive men who have been transformed by the experience of education.”

The revamped program will begin in January and will have a curriculum featuring parallel courses for the inmates and the custody officers.

College- in -Prison Programs have been shown to have a positive effect on those who participate in them.

On average, once an individual has been incarcerated, there is a 60 percent chance that they will be incarcerated again. When an incarcerated person is educated, however, that chance drops to below 15 percent.

“We see this as a matter of civic responsibility. It is the most effective way to create a safer society and to turn some bright people into law-abiding citizens, rather than warehouse them in prisons at $40.000 a year,” said Parker.

To date, 15 students have graduated from SLU CIPP. With the Hearst Foundation grant, the program is looking to expand its courses from a certificate in theology to an associates degree in arts.

Parker stated that it is a small program, but little more can be afforded since Pell Grants were pulled for college-in-prison style programs.

The Pell Grant is a grant program that provides aid primarily to low-income undergraduate students.

In 1994, an initiative by Senator Jesse Helms barred access to these grants for incarcerated individuals, forcing roughly 350 prison education programs to shut down across the country. The argument was if Pell Grants were given to prisoners, law-abiding citizens would not receive them. At the height of the use of Pell Grants for incarcerated persons, however, only six tenths of one percent of the grants issued were given to prisoners.

“It was a small sum, but it made a huge difference in prison life,” Parker said. “And our hypothesis is having even a small population going through an undergrad degree program will have a positive effect on prison culture. “

Currently, SLU’s program is the only college-in-prison program in the state of Missouri.

It is unique in that it serves not only the inmates, but the prison staff as well.

Dr. Tobias Winright, a professor of theological ethics, can attest to how important it is that the prison staff is included. Winright worked his way through college by taking jobs in law enforcement, including some time as a corrections officer in a maximum security facility.

“I know from experience that [prison staff] also often lacks adequate resources with which to pursue a degree in higher education, so doing this will hopefully head off any bitterness they might have harbored toward inmates benefitting from this program. Plus it should prove rewarding to these officers participating both personally and professionally,” Winright said.

“This program may indeed spark a much needed rethinking of prisons, and I know colleagues at other universities who are expressing interest in transplanting similar programs to their institutions.”

Parker believes that the heart of SLU CIPPs is in the Gospel of Matthew: 25.

“Matthew: 25 is the parable about the king who says to the righteous welcome, because when I was hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, a stranger and in prison, you were present to me. So often all those other dimensions of what Christ said we should do, we think about in very conscience and deliberate way when we think about social justice. And it’s often that last part, ‘in prison’, we leave off the list.”

Parker states that working in a prison changed where he sees Christ in the world. To see Christ in prison is a profound realization for him.

The change the program has had on the inmates has also been dramatic. In his graduation address, inmate and student, Raymond Scott, spoke of how important the experience in the classroom.

“There have been so many memorable people, places and events…but I think the most important thing is that we learned about the human condition and we have grown a little closer to God,” Scott said. “What if we, the bottom rung of society, could have a positive effect, not only on other prisoners, but on the very society we have been removed from?”
As the program expands, Parker hopes to see the support extend from the prison to the community.

“What I’m conscience of is that the issue of incarceration is not just about people locked up, but the children of the incarcerated,” Parker said. “They are being effected emotionally, academically, they’re living circumstances are not the best.”

There is also hope that the program can extend to youths who may be at-risk.

“For me as a theologian,  I’m speaking from the heart when I say this is God’s project,” Parker said.

SLU CIPP creates a lot of hope within the community that real change can be brought to the prison system  across the board.