The Swarthmore College community is at the forefront of efforts to shrink the nation’s prison system and offer greater opportunities for advancement and rehabilitation, writes Michael Agresta for the Swarthmore College Bulletin.

Part of this is the legacy of the late H. Haines Turner, a Swarthmore professor who devoted his life to improving prison conditions.

Today, his role has been taken over by numerous Swarthmore alumni, including prison educator Erin Corbett. This year, Corbett has been working on broadening the educational opportunities for those incarcerated.

[uam_ad id=”52851″]

Advertisement

As a doctoral candidate at Penn, she studied the relationship between educational attainment and post-release employment outcomes. While as an employee of the Petey Greene Program, she trained volunteers to tutor inmates. She is also a business entrepreneurship instructor in a women’s facility with College Unbound and CEO of the Second Chance Educational Alliance.

Her Second Chance program helps incarcerated men with a high school diploma or GED refresh their skills and knowledge, so they can consider higher education upon release.

“Second Chance helps them build their study skills and confidence,” Corbett said. “I would love to see it at more facilities.”

Read more about the Swarthmore College community’s efforts to shrink the prison system in the Swarthmore College Bulletin by clicking here.

[uam_ad id=”52850″]