May 3—LUMBERTON — Robeson Community College officials announced in a Tuesday press conference that the college will participate in the U.S. Department of Education’s Second Chance Pell Experiment which uses federal funding to offer educational opportunities to inmates.
The college was one of 73 institutions invited to participate in the initiative, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
“The expansion will bring the total number of schools able to participate in the Second Chance Pell Experiment to 200,” according to a USDOE press release. “… The Second Chance Pell Experiment was first established in 2015 by the Obama-Biden Administration to provide Pell Grants to incarcerated individuals to allow them to participate in postsecondary education programs.”
The expansion will allow the USDOE to study “best practices for implementing the reinstatement of Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students, and will expand the geographic range of the programs,” according to the USDOE.
Colleges will begin to access Pell Grant funding in July, according to the USDOE.
Patrena Benton Elliot, vice president for Instruction and Student Support Services at RCC, said the USDOE made the announcement of its expansion of the program for the 2022-23 award year in July 2021. The college submitted a proposal to join in the effort one to two months later.
“I was so elated to open my email and discover that our college had been invited to participate,” Elliot wrote in a prepared statement. “… Education is often the second chance that provides a gateway to social and economic mobility for justice impacted individuals, giving them skills and training they need to re-enter society as a productive citizen.”
RCC President Melissa Singler, Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins, Robeson County District Attorney Matt Scott and Lumberton Correctional Institution Warden Mary Locklear stood by Elliot during the press conference held in front of Lumberton Correctional Institution.
“In the past years we’ve had a great working relationship with Robeson Community College,” Locklear said.
Education is “critical” to reducing recidivism, which is the act of offenders committing more crimes after they are released, she said.
“Our ultimate goal, along with preparing offenders for successful reentry into society, is to reduce recidivism and this starts with prisons,” she added.
Robeson Community College provides programs like “adult basic education and vocational classes” to LCI inmates, according to Benton Elliot. The expansion will allow incarcerated individuals to obtain up to an associate’s degree from the college.
“Providing education in prison is proven to reduce recidivism rates and is associated with higher employment rates, which will improve public safety and allow individuals to return home to their communities and contribute to society,” according to the USDOE.
“Moreover, a 2018 study from the RAND Corporation, funded by the Department of Justice, found that incarcerated individuals who participated in correctional education were 48% less likely to return to prison within three years than incarcerated individuals who did not participate in any correctional education programs,” the USDOE stated in an April press release.
Robeson County District Attorney Matt Scott said he was thankful for RCC’s involvement in the program.
Scott said the “majority” of inmates at LCI will reenter society. Scott said getting them involved with educational programs with RCC and helping them obtain jobs can help the whole community once inmates finish their sentences at the institution.
“That is how you make a community like Robeson County safer,” he said.
Benton Elliot said the college has not determined a cap for students in the program, but it will be “predicated based on space availability” as well as students “ready to move forward into those programs.”
The college will also work with its regional accrediting body and participate in a webinar with…
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