Rayna Taylor –
In September, The Prison Policy Initiative gave Tennessee a failing grade within its handling of the COVID-19 within prisons, jails, and detention centers, as there was little to no policy ensuring the health and safety of inmates.
This however has been only one of the failing grades upon our state’s prisons system’s progress report. Tennessee’s jails have been ranked within the bottom eight in categories such as hygiene, education, and racial discrimination, with over half of those incarcerated being Black Americans.
Some of us take education for granted, viewing it as easily accessible. Some of us even disdain school. However, for those within detention centers, education may be their ticket to bettering their post-incarcerated, or incarcerated, lifestyle.
The general public, especially high school seniors, has a view of where they want to be when they grow up. The college of their dreams, their dream job, the picture of the house they want to spend the rest of their life within. However, some people don’t have the luxury to dream. About 50% of lower-income students are expected to serve some amount of time within a prison or jail, and of the prison population, only 28% percent of the incarcerated population has received a college education, with a fourth of that community being educationally underserved, as they have either dropped out or come start from a juvenile detention facility.
Red Senate Bill 22-3-2 proposes a plan to increase the budget that contributes to the education and vocational programs offered to those incarcerated. These programs such as the GED program, culinary classes, public speaking, accounting, even the offering of certain college courses, would not only increase the quality of the standard prison programs that were being offered before but potentially save money within the state budget as delegate Acosta (author of this bill) stated within her summation. This bill has been endorsed by Governor Comfort Markwei in hopes that it can overall change the tune of life for those behind bars. The Governor stated, “We can not leave marginalized groups behind.”
Learn more:
Education Opportunities in Prison Are Key to Reducing Crime
Department of Public Information 