Mellon Foundation Grant Brings Humanities Education to Inmates and Formerly Incarcerated
The $1.5 million grant funds the creation of a new concentration for students in the NJ-STEP program
Barry Pinckney knows firsthand how disorienting incarceration can be. During his eleven years in prison, he wondered not only about how he would make a living when he got out, but about the forces in his life that led to his imprisonment in the first place and what he could do to escape them. He knew he needed not only job skills, but a way to better understand himself and the world that shaped him.
He is one of the more than 1,300 students who have completed courses through New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons Consortium (NJ-STEP) – an association of higher education institutions, based at Rutgers University-Newark, that work with the New Jersey Department of Corrections and State Parole Board to provide college courses for incarcerated individuals and help them transition to college life upon their release.
The consortium recently received a $1.5 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create a new concentration in the humanities to help students like Pinckney develop a better understanding of the world and the skills needed to be successful. The new concentration will focus on the study of human culture, and include such disciplines as languages, literature, philosophy, history and religion.
“Humanities courses help these students understand their position in a larger social context,” says Johanna Schoen, associate chair of the history department in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, who is helping create the humanities curriculum. “Assigning biographical readings that echo the students’ familiar experiences allows them to reflect on their own background and express themselves in constructive ways.”
The Mellon Foundation grant is also intended to encourage full-time faculty to teach in New Jersey’s correctional facilities. Previously, faculty who wanted to teach in prisons had to do so in addition to their regular teaching load. Now, however, the arts and sciences deans across Rutgers’ locations are prepared to count teaching in NJ-STEP as part of a faculty member’s normal teaching load.
Rutgers faculty will design up to three rotating humanities electives and a director of pedagogy will be hired. In addition, a capstone research course will be designed in cooperation with Humanities Action Lab, a national coalition that leads humanities projects on urgent social issues that is housed at Rutgers-Newark.
Pinckney’s story is a testament to the difference NJ-STEP can make. The consortium coordinates courses at seven New Jersey prisons for an associate’s degree, credited by Raritan Valley Community College, followed by a bachelor’s degree in justice studies from Rutgers-Newark and also helps students transition to any Rutgers location after their release. Pinckney took classes while he was incarcerated and now attends Rutgers-Newark, where he will graduate in December.
“My education through NJ-STEP has helped me understand my life from the beginning to now,” says Pinckney. “Now that I understand why certain things happen, I can address them and use my experience to help others at a young age and even their parents.”
The grant from the Mellon Foundation also supports the establishment of a learning community of faculty, staff, and students – both those incarcerated and those on campus – that will work with NJ-STEP as professors, advisors, and peer tutors. Often, students who have transitioned out of prison to campus return to serve as mentors for students who remain inside.
“Our success is linked,” says Pinckney, referring to other students in the program as his “STEP brothers and sisters.” “NJ-STEP is helping people have a chance they never got,” he adds, “a chance to experience the American dream.”
Many of the program’s graduates have gone on to careers in social work, nonprofit management, policy, and advocacy, serving populations that have a high rate of imprisonment, says Christopher Agans, NJ-STEP’s acting director and director of transitions.
“There’s a value-add when these students come back to our campus,” says Agans. “They bring a lived experience, a tenacity for working in adverse conditions, and a sense of community and obligation to each other.”
NJ-STEP Success Stories:
1,300+ students have enrolled in an NJ-STEP class
115+ associate’s degrees have been awarded to incarcerated students
90+ incarcerated students have been enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program
90+ students are enrolled or will enroll in college after release
66 released students are enrolled at Rutgers in a bachelor’s degree program on campus
58 students have completed their bachelor’s degrees at Rutgers
12 students have completed master’s degree-level work