"50 Years from Folsom"...Oct 13 concert to benefit prison education program

[Tanuki]

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http://www.theinitiativetn.org/why-prison-education

Why post-secondary education for people in prison?

Our current prison policies, especially education, are in serious need of reform.

2.3 million men and women are incarcerated in prisons in the US, and our tax dollars fund this.

The US has less than 5% of world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prison population.

In Tennessee, it costs $27,000 a year to incarcerate, but only $1000 to $1600 a year, depending on part- or full-time, to educate one individual.

Over 95% of those in prisons will get out, and nearly 50% of them will return to prison within 3 years.

Post-secondary education has proven to be extremely effective in reducing recidivism.

Recidivism rates go down further if education is continued post-release.

Lower recidivism saves millions in tax payer dollars, ensures safer communities, lessens prison violence, and creates productive fellow citizens.


The State of Tennessee has proven itself to be in the vanguard of education in the United States. In 2010, Tennessee became one of two states to win the competitive "Race to the Top" federal grant competition and the $500 million in educational funding that came with it. Tennessee has and continues to institute innovative educational reform at all levels, from pre-k to post-secondary education. Governor Bill Haslam has called himself the "higher education governor," and was active in the implementation of the Complete College Tennessee Act (2010) meant to reform all institutions of public higher education in Tennessee. Governor Haslam launched the Drive to 55 mission in 2013, which has the goal of 55% of Tennesseans with college degrees or certificates by the year 2025. As a further step towards the realization of that mission, Tennessee Promise (2015) and more recently Tennessee Reconnect (2017) make Tennessee the first state to offer free community college to all its citizens. THEI's mission is in line with Tennessee's educational goals by widening college access to a traditionally neglected segment of the population, and allows Tennessee to continue to be a beacon of dynamic and progressive educational change in the Southeast and in the nation by extending access to higher education to men and women behind bars.

[marble falls]

1. I sure hope they'd cut a CD from this, I surely do want one.