GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Several states have joined Calvin College in a program that would promote higher education to those incarcerated in the state of Michigan. 

On Wednesday, Calvin hosted an event which included twelve other schools joining a consortium according to WOODTV. 

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“I would love to see a school offer a business major, perhaps another one computer skills — whatever the case — and that way, a potential student could choose,” said Todd Cioffi, Director of the Calvin Prison Initiative.

Since 2015, Calvin’s Prison Initiative has been a forerunner in offering educational opportunities for those who would not otherwise be able to attend college in the midwest.  Each year, CPI accepts 20 male inmates from various Michigan state prisons to its program, and if accepted the men are transferred to the Handlon Correctional Facility for courses. 

According to statistics from the university, in the CPI’s first year, 100% of student inmates passed every course with a class grade point average (GPA) of 3.6.  

“The efforts of CPI are primarily intended to benefit and rehabilitate the lives of inmates; however, the impact of CPI reaches beyond the inmates it serves,” according to Calvin College, “Faculty from several colleges in West Michigan serve as professors in the program, and students from Calvin University are given the unique opportunity to tutor the inmates. Those who have witnessed the CPI program in action and participated in its transformative work have walked away changed.”

Through education, statistics indicate that inmates are less likely to go back. 

“Any higher education … the rate at which they recidivate, meaning goes back to prison, in 3-5 years drops 50%. If you get a B.A., it drops 8%. If you get a master’s degree, below 1%,” Cioffi said.

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Michigan has been leading the charge to educate inmates according to Heidi Washington, Director of Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC). 

“Michigan has been at the forefront of this movement, in particular the movement to encourage Congress to reauthorize Pell Grants and the availability of Pell Grants to be used for incarcerated learners,” Washington said. 

In early May, more than a dozen students graduated from the program and shared some of their experiences.  For one graduate, Tim Baker, who had spent more than 20 years in prison, CPI was unlike anything he had experienced before and he shared his greatest takeaway.  

“The sense of accomplishment that I was able to achieve,” Baker said in a statement, “Five years ago, I didn’t know who I was, where I belonged, or where I was going. Throughout this program, I found most of that. Furthermore, my faith has grown into something I can be proud of.”

For another graduate, it was the chance at a degree his family never had before. 

“I am very happy to be a graduate,” Marcus Johnson said, “Being a first generation graduate, I believe I have done my family proud by earning a BA while in prison.”

Ultimately, the goal is to have programs “in every prison in Michigan” according to Cioffi.