By Sophia Schlegelmilch | Observer Contributor
Photo courtesy of mass.gov
Even prison walls can’t hold back MWCC’s mission to serve the educational needs of the community.
Since 2016, MWCC has offered certificates in Small Business Management to inmates of North Central Correctional Institute in Gardner and Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Shirley.
“The whole goal of Mount Wachusett is to transform people’s lives,” said Stephanie Marchetti, Director of Academic Support & Testing Services, “and this really allows us to do that in a direct, obvious way.”
According to Marchetti, the Small Business Management Certificate was chosen because it best supports the goals of these inmates upon release, many of whom want to start their own businesses as carpenters, electricians, or other trade professionals. The credits earned through these classes also transfer easily into other business majors if these students want to further their college education after release.
In order to participate, inmates must qualify for a federal Pell grant as their tuition is paid in full by the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program, a US Department of Education program that began in 2015 “to test whether participation in high quality education programs increases after expanding access to financial aid for incarcerated individuals,” according to the Department of Education website.
According to Marchetti, inmates are also required to apply to MWCC and qualify for college-level English through a placement test. They must be scheduled for release within 5 years and meet certain behavioral requirements. Participants can be removed from the program if they are violating the prison’s behavioral rules, but Marchetti said the programs have a very high retention rate.
For incarcerated students in the program, the learning environment mirrors the campus learning environment “almost exactly,” said Marchetti. “They are completing work at the same level of rigor as they would at a class on campus.”
Being inside the prison poses some unique challenges, however.
“The hardest part is trying to figure out how to run classes without the internet, for sure,” Marchetti said.
Instead, teachers use offline databases to simulate the internet-based work that the courses require. Travel between different areas of the facility is strictly controlled, so class schedules must be structured around those movements. “Sometimes, due to what’s going on in the prison, you can’t take in paper and pencils, you can’t take in paper clips, things can’t be stapled,” added Marchetti.
In spite of these challenges, Marchetti said the tutors love working in the prisons. “They can see the difference that it makes in the attitude of the inmates, that they have something to look forward to. They’re working on a goal. They can actually make realistic plans for when they get out.”
The first class of students graduated from the program, which takes twelve to eighteen months to complete, in summer of 2018. According to Marchetti, earning an education while they serve their time reduces inmates’ rate of recidivism, meaning they are less likely to reoffend. “It will change their lives for the positive, and the lives of their family members,” she said. “It is one less thing that they have to figure out how to do on their own when they get out.”
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