Colorado as a cooperative environment

The Colorado Department of Corrections has created a unique environment for prison education programs across the state. With the help of the Mary Gould and Eden Cortes from Mountain West Equity Collaborative, the Colorado Department of Corrections facilitates monthly Zoom meetings for all Colorado higher education prison programs. These meetings provide an opportunity for collaboration between the programs and the department of corrections. The state is committed to the expansion of educational programs for their incarcerated population. They recognize the important role that education plays in reducing recidivism rates and setting up released students for success in society.

These meetings provide valuable time for programs to share updates and best practices. The environment of collaboration that is facilitated by the department of corrections is proving to be an invaluable asset for all prison education programs in Colorado. For example, the Regis Virtual Inside/Out Prison Education Program was able to work with the prison education program at University of Colorado-Denver to find a new instructor for one of our upcoming classes. He is formerly incarcerated and we are very excited to have him teaching in our next cohort that begins in January!

In July, the Colorado Department of Corrections hosted their annual higher education in prison meeting at their headquarters in Colorado Springs. This all-day, in-person meeting gave the department of corrections and prison education programs from across the state a chance to have in-depth conversations around higher education in a correctional setting and time for planning the future of education in Colorado prisons.

Part of the morning was spent planning for quality higher education in prison programs. This included discussions of creating a clearinghouse for transcripts so students can have better access to their transcripts as they shift between programs and ways to work together to make the educational experience better for all students, no matter which program they belong to in the state. The rest of the morning was dedicated to reviewing already established equity statements and considering the creation of equity statements for one’s specific prison education program. The rest of the day was dedicated to an overview of the department of corrections PEP application, which is the first step in getting Pell approval for the Regis Virtual Inside/Out Prison Education program.

The support from the department of corrections and Mountain West Equity Collaborative is vital to the success of the Regis Virtual Inside/Out Prison Education program. The environment of collaboration that is fostered by the Colorado Department of Corrections will make all high education prison programs in the state stronger and improve the experience for all students.