Mass Incarceration Of Women In Prison Essay

When faced with the difficult reality of mass incarceration, and the high rates of women of color incarcerated in our federal prison system, we are often left wondering what we as mere college students can do. While our position against this unjust reality seems very small, one of the things we can do is provide educational resources to women of color in prison by donating our old books – whether these be our old college textbooks or any. There is very strong evidence out there that suggests that prisoners that are allowed access to education resources while in prison are more likely to thrive once released, and their chance of being re-incarcerated is lowered. In an interview with NPR following the Obama administration’s step toward expanding access of the Pell grant to adult prisoners, Lois Davis of the RAND corporation (a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges) said that education is the centerpiece of an effective re-entry into society, and a better way to spend our tax dollars:

“Education is a relatively low-cost program you can provide to inmates. But, when you look simply at direct …show more content…
We would be working through a local organization here in Chicago: Chicago Books to Women. Chicago Books to Women is volunteer group that distributes books free of charge to women nationwide. This group started because, as said in their mission statement, “we hear over and over that rehabilitation is not a priority and prison libraries tend to be dismal” (Chicago BWP 2015). A single book can change a