Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts tagged as “prison”

(Archive February 2019) From Incarcerated to Educated

By editorialteam on April 3, 2025

By Sophia Schlegelmilch | Assistant Editor

Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Shirley
Photo by Betsabee Torres

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. 

According to Stephanie Marchetti, Director of Academic Support & Testing Services, 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.  read more

(Archive December 2018) Massachusetts Inmates Get a Second Chance

By editorialteam on April 1, 2025

By Sophia Schlegelmilch | Observer Contributor

North Central Corrctional Institution in Gardner
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.” read more

(Archive February 2016) Prison Rehabilitation and Education

By editorialteam on August 22, 2024

Should Prison Inmates Get Grants to Pay for Their Education?

By Paul Crowley | Observer Contributor

Pickens County offers GED opportunities for their inmates.
Courtesy photo / flickr.com/Inmate_Sasha_#191275

Prisoners. Inmates. Convicts. The incarcerated.  They break the law and we put them in jail to punish them and to deter other people from making the same mistake.  We also seek to rehabilitate them.

We incarcerate 25% of the world’s prisoners.  One and a half million people were in state or federal jail in 2014.   93% of these people will return to our communities.  We certainly punish them – especially since the get tough days of the 1990’s.  It is hard to measure a deterrence strategy, but since our prisons are swollen with inmates, maybe we do not deter enough.  But why bother to spend the money to rehabilitate them? read more