While president of Rockhurst University, Fr. Tom Curran, SJ, helped to establish a prison education program in Chillicothe, Missouri, through which people who are incarcerated and correctional staff take college courses taught by Rockhurst faculty. When Fr. Curran stepped down as Rockhurst president, Fr. Provincial Thomas P. Greene, SJ, missioned him to start the Jesuit Prison Education Network (JPEN). Now in its third year, JPEN operates as Fr. Curran established in the beginning, with goals that are modest, achievable and sustainable:
“I offered the mantra of ‘modest, achievable and sustainable’ so that the effort of providing college credit classes to the incarcerated and correctional staff would be organic and measured in its pursuits – i.e. modest,” Fr. Curran said. Additionally, he wanted to make sure that the venture would have a likelihood of success — “achievable.” Lastly, he felt strongly that providing classes in the prisons should not be pursued unless it could be sustained. “I know of too many other ventures for the marginalized that were started and soon ended,” he said. “Promises made but quickly suspended are just a furtherance of injustice.”
JPEN is a modest, achievable and sustainable response to the second of the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus: walking with the poor and marginalized.
Modest: To date, 10 of the 27 Jesuit colleges and universities in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) provide college-credit classes to the incarcerated. Three of the ten schools – all in the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province – also offer classes to Department of Corrections staff. Several schools have held commencement ceremonies with the awarding of degrees and/or certificates, including Boston College, Georgetown University, Regis University, the University of Scranton, Saint Louis University and Rockhurst University. Five additional Jesuit colleges are conducting feasibility studies about starting prison education programs.
The JPEN schools constitute a total population of more than 300 students. Staffing at the colleges ranges from one part-time person to five full-time positions. Each school’s program is modest in scale, but the participants’ transformation can be infectious and pervasive.
Achievable: Departments of Corrections (DOC) are focused on public safety; colleges and universities are about educating a work force and producing an engaged citizenry. JPEN has discovered that there are points of intersection for these two entities. Even just a few college credit classes reduce recidivism by 66% according to the Vera Institute of Justice. Additionally, employers look favorably upon those released. And the awarding of a certificate and/or degree enhances the self-worth of the student.
Sustainable: JPEN is a modest venture which makes it sustainable, attractive and resistant to economic downturns and dramatic changes in the political environment. Moreover, its scalability and elasticity make it appealing to academic institutions of all sizes, including the five additional Jesuit colleges and universities engaged in a feasibility study about prison education.
For the first time, a Jesuit scholastic was assigned to JPEN for his regency (ministerial experience). Beau Guedry, SJ, teaches in the Rayburn Correctional Center in Louisiana through Loyola University New Orleans.
