Yale partners with prison education program to give incarcerated men a chance to pursue higher education.

In 2021, six men were able to gain access to higher education while incarcerated, thanks to a new partnership between the University of New Haven and Yale University's Prison Education Initiative. This was made possible with the help of a $1.5 million grant donation from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The program also allowed those on parole to participate, providing guidance to help them transition into a career once they were released. On the day of their graduation, the first cohort of graduates held their ceremony at the prison, hopeful of a better future with a college degree from one of the state's best schools.

Marcus Harvin, one of the program's graduates, expressed his joy and disbelief at being able to study at Yale while he was in prison. "That name, Yale, means so much because I'm from New Haven," he said. "To be able to study at Yale and begin studying in prison is unheard of. People even think I'm lying sometimes, so I'll show them my jail I.D. and my Yale I.D."

The program has grown since its inception, with funding that allowed it to expand to a woman's prison and also develop a consortium of 15 schools and prison systems nationwide. The director of the Yale-UNH Partnership, alum Zelda Rowland, shared her thoughts on the impact of the program, "We believe that we're transforming not just individual student's lives, but also the institutions that we work in, both the universities and correctional system."

The graduation ceremony was attended by Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, who spoke about the importance of self-determination and resilience that the program embodied. “You learn from the past, but you define your own future," he said. "And what happens in your future is going to be your legacy. And I want you to have a really important story to tell.”

This program has the potential to affect generations in its reach, reversing the stigma around those incarcerated and their ability to obtain success.

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