‘This is freedom to me:’ Northwestern Prison Education Program launches at Logan Correctional Center

In three short years, the Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) has grown from a pilot serving men in a single maximum-security prison into a vast network of faculty and tutors providing an education like none other in the state to people who are incarcerated in two correctional facilities. For the first time ever, women in Illinois can benefit from a full liberal arts curriculum behind bars.

In partnership with the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), NPEP offers the only degree-granting program in the state with a full liberal arts curriculum, which includes courses in the humanities, fine arts, social sciences and STEM. Students earn course credits granted through Northwestern’s School of Professional Studies. All the program’s in-prison offerings are tuition free.

NPEP received a $1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2020 to support expansion to the women’s prison.

“As our nation reckons with the systemic racism, inequities and moral failures of the United States criminal legal system, I am thrilled that Northwestern is emerging as a national leader in empowering those who have been most impacted,” said Jennifer Lackey, NPEP director and the Wayne and Elizabeth Jones Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern. “Education is one of the most effective ways of investing in the values that will truly make our communities flourish, and it is critical that these opportunities be extended to incarcerated women, who are far too often forgotten when it comes to inside programming.”

Read more about Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) in Northwestern Now.

Visit the Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) website.