Academics for Offenders allows incarcerated individuals to obtain UHCL degrees
For over 45 years, the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) has offered classes at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The “Academics for Offenders” program allows incarcerated individuals to pursue a bachelor’s or master’s degree during their prison sentence.
The purpose of this post-secondary education program is to give offenders the opportunity to rehabilitate themselves by providing the tools for them to re-enter society as skilled and successful citizens.
TDCJ has been working with UHCL since the university’s founding in 1974, and to date more than 600 degrees have been awarded to students who graduated from the program. More recently, Academics for Offenders has evolved and expanded into the digital world. Since the fall of 2018, select UHCL professors have been teaching inmates remotely from campus.
This is a new frontier in Texan prisons because inmates do not have access to computers. During class hours, students spend their allotted learning time in a classroom at the prison while professors teach virtually via a monitor in a designated room in the Bayou Building.
“It’s almost like you’re FaceTiming your students,” said Shreerekha Subramanian, department chair of liberal arts and associate professor of humanities. “Professors are able to teach, lecture, show powerpoints, and talk back and forth with their students in real time. So you are having a class that is interactive but happening in the virtual realm, and quite different than teaching an online class.”
Texas has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, with more than 150,000 Texans currently serving sentences in state prisons and jails. When inmates are released, they often face the challenge of finding employment with a criminal record.
Because of this and other factors, nearly three-fifths of former Texas inmates will be rearrested within three years of their initial release. However, prison education can significantly reduce these intimidating odds.
“The program has a dual benefit by saving Texas taxpayer’s money and lowering the reincarceration rate,” said William Powers, director of Academics for Offenders program. “Even the Research and Development, an American non-profit global policy think tank, says [the program] is necessary.”
A 2013 study funded by the Department of Justice showed that inmates who participate in correctional education programs had 43% lower odds of reoffending than those who did not. The study also found that inmates receiving correctional education had improved odds of obtaining employment after release.
Graduates from the Academics for Offenders program have gone on to work for the Texas Railroad Commission, the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, offices within the Texas governmental system and even at UHCL.
“Students in prison apply to the university just like all other students,” Powers said. “In addition to university requirements, [incarcerated] students must meet stringent TDCJ policies with regard to discipline and behavior, known in TDCJ parlance as their ‘line classification,’ as well as restrictions based on level of offense and parole eligibility guidelines in order to participate in the program.”
In the fall of 2018, the program was given the Regent’s Academic Excellence Award. The award recognizes the University of Houston System institutions’ programs and initiatives that exemplify excellence in teaching, research and/or public service.
“I am very supportive of the program,” said Steve Berberich, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “Program participants graduate equipped to thrive in a competitive workplace and to make meaningful contributions to their communities.”
At this time, there are four degrees available. Housed in the College of Human Sciences and Humanities, the four degrees available for the Academics for Offenders program are: Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Humanities, Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Sciences, and Master of Arts in Literature.
“What we offer in our TDC program is a fine balance between faculty choice and university resources,” Subramanian said.
However, some of those in Academics for Offenders choose to further their education with UHCL’s various degree plans. Incarcerated individuals wishing to participate in the post-secondary program must meet the admissions criteria for both UHCL and TDCJ.
“We have a cohort of students who are very interested and really keen on learning,” Subramanian said. “They are students who have already earned an associate degree, and they are eager to enroll at a university to complete their bachelor’s degree.”
For more information about the Academics for Offenders program at UHCL, visit the Academics for Offenders on the UHCL website.
