The Key Idea 

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has taken a novel approach to developing their Prison-to-Gown program by intentionally building strategies and partnerships mirroring affinity group models. 

The Key Players 

Michael “Mike” Brawn: Program Manager, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Prison-to-Gown Program 

Education Justice Program: A “comprehensive college-in-prison program” housed within the College of Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which houses the Prison-to-Gown Program. Learn more at: Home – Education Justice Project  

The Terminology 

In this post, we’ll use these terms as described below based on how the Key Players define them. 

Justice–involved: Anyone who has been a defendant in a criminal case. 

Justice–impacted: Includes both justice– involved people and their children, partners, and others impacted by a loved one’s incarceration. 

Formerly incarcerated: People who have served a prison sentence in a federal or state correctional facility. 

Prison–based higher education: College level coursework and/or postsecondary educational credentials delivered to and earned by incarcerated people. 

The Story:  

“A Life Preserver” 

Mike Brawn spent 16 ½ years incarcerated. “One thing about prison that they don’t show on T.V. is it’s boring.” How did Mike channel his boredom into something positive? Education–for himself and for others.  

Mike helped develop peer-to-peer mentoring programs while in prison, then started a reentry support program upon release. “While I had gone to college prior to incarceration, education became a real kind of life preserver in many ways…having an educational resource- for a lot of us, not just myself- gave us the ability to function and get ready for that next chapter of our lives.” Between his lived experience and academic qualifications, Mike was a perfect choice to become program manager for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s developing Prison-to-Gown initiative in 2022. 

Housed in the College of Education through the Education Justice Project, Prison-to-Gown prioritizes housing, technology, campus culture, academic assistance, and counseling to support justice–involved/justice–impacted student populations.¹ The project’s focus on supporting students and connecting them to resources is a strong example of the Support Pillar of Transformation, demonstrating how the Pillar can incorporate a wide range of non-traditional students.  

The University of Illinois doesn’t currently have a strong count on how many students that might be; justice–impacted students often fear the stigma attached to incarceration, and many formerly incarcerated or justice-impacted students are hesitant to self-identify. However, with 650,000 Americans released from prison every year, justice-impacted students need guidance on the clearest path away from recidivism and toward social and economic mobility.² The Prison-to-Gown Program has started the process of identifying how to make an impact, guided by other successful prison pathway programs, a strong foundation of relevant research, and an innovative approach to building a supportive community for justice-impacted students. 

Creating Through Connection 

As Mike worked to launch the Prison-to-Gown program, he paid special attention to the unique challenges that come with supporting historically excluded populations. “We were purposeful about going out and talking to the different cultural organizations on campus, getting buy-in and support from them. It’s very similar to what they have created in the past,” he said. “In many ways, college campuses for decades have created student organizations or cultural organizations because they recognize that certain [populations] weren’t feeling like they were fully accessing the university campus life. So they created these kinds of organizations to give them that support. This is basically the same thing, just with a different demographic.” Mike notes that much affinity work has built-in barriers related to stigma and cultural challenges. The intersectional nature of prison pathways work highlighted the need to collaborate with cultural organizations to manage those barriers. According to the Prison Policy Project, state-by-state incarceration rates for black Americans range from 2% to almost 12% higher than white Americans. They also indicate that 27% of formerly incarcerated people are unemployed as compared to the 3.7% overall civilian unemployment rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in December 2023. 

Since the program launched in 2022, Mike has worked on building a foundation of relevant data and strong relationships. The connections he’s made with campus cultural organizations create multiple pathways for him to share his work with populations who thrive in trust-centered environments. Prison-to-Gown events both disseminate resources to justice-involved students without requiring self-identification and share the nuanced experiences of justice-involved populations with the wider campus community. He’s organized several panels, talks, and campus events around topics relevant to justice-involved students, including sharing his own experiences and those of other successful formerly incarcerated professionals. Future events include panels on using technology to support a more complete digital narrative for formerly incarcerated people and on the need for peer-to-peer support for justice-impacted students. By bringing justice-involved voices to the forefront, Mike hopes to create trust with justice-involved students and break down barrier beliefs, such as the idea that recruiting justice-involved students will lead to an increase in crime on campus (Mike asserts there he’s found no statistical information supporting a correlation between increased crime and the presence of justice-impacted students).  

Despite the interest that the University of Illinois has taken in supporting justice-impacted students, the Prison-To-Gown program has been deliberately subdued with its marketing: “We haven’t really sat there and formally tried to recruit in a sense; it’s much more nuanced at this juncture… we’ve done that purposefully.” Collaborations with the campus Latino center and YMCA (located on the university’s campus) have created inroads to spreading the word about the program as it grows. The veteran’s affairs group has also been a valuable partner in exploring resources to help with common concerns between reentry from incarceration and returning to civilian life, such as housing barriers, healthcare access, and aging out of the ‘traditional’ college-age demographic. Recognizing the needs of justice–impacted students from their own perspective will be the focus as the program expands into direct student–facing supports. “I think a lot of the time, programs like this really become impacted by student support. Once more students get involved and learn more about it, they’re the ones who push these things.” 

What’s Next? Leveraging the Trends 

Mike looks toward what the Prison-to-Gown Program can become from a strategic lens. An increasing focus on stackable credentials could make more space for justice-involved demographics to succeed. “You have people who come out of prison with a lot of certificates and vocational certificates; some have associate’s degrees. Could those be transferrable to this new wave of how we look at higher education?” As prison-based education programs continue to support completion of certificates, badges, and certifications while incarcerated, the pathways to degrees upon release can be intentionally developed, reducing time to degree and supporting successful reentry for formerly incarcerated students.  

Programs from across the CCA Alliance, like Mountainview at Rutgers University, the New York University Prison Education Program, and California’s Prison Education Project, show that clear, direct pathways from prison-based education to degree are feasible. Established programs such as Project Rebound at the California State University and Berkeley’s Underground Scholars also contribute deep expertise to the scholarship and processes of prison-based higher education. Mike frequently looks to these programs, the research of John Jay College’s Prison Reentry Institute, and the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison for guidance as he works to grow the Prison-to-Gown program as a support for justice-impacted students.  

Justice-impacted students bring resilience and motivation to the college experience. Under the innovative, compassionate leadership of Mike Brawn and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign team, the Prison-to-Gown Program is growing into an example of how tapping into the lived experiences of staff and students brings focus to this work. We can learn from their approach to enhance the Support Pillar of Transformation, bringing intersectional perspectives as we serve justice–impacted students and other historically underserved populations across the CCA Alliance. 

References 

Education Justice Project, How EJP’s Prison-to-Gown Program Will Work – Education Justice Project. Retrieved 1/5/2024 

U.S. Department of Justice, USDOJ: FBCI: Prisoners and Prisoner Reentry (justice.gov). Retrieved 1/5/2024 

Prison Policy Initiative, Updated data and charts: Incarceration stats by race, ethnicity, and gender for all 50 states and D.C. | Prison Policy Initiative. Retrieved 1/5/2024   

Prison Policy Initiative, Economics of Incarceration | Prison Policy Initiative. Retrieved 1/5/2024 

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Civilian unemployment rate (bls.gov). Retrieved 1/5/2024