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UW System Prison Education Initiative
Developed countries have at the basis a strong educational system. Education helps to raise responsible citizens, efficiently undertaking tasks that lead to overall economic growth. Investing in education means investing in human capital, which leads to progress in a long-term perspective.
However, in some states, only a few have access to quality education. Some families can not afford to educate their children because of the low incomes. Governor Tommy Thompson is aware of the importance of offering access to knowledge.
Besides the schoolhouse law that allowed parents and children to choose the school they want to attend, governor Thompson launched a Prison Education Initiative through the UW System. Several studies demonstrate that only 25% of prisoners in Wisconsin have a post-secondary education. Therefore, he launched a pilot project, aiming to offer the possibility to access a Bachelor degree in several subjects of interest.
This program could be initiated only by collaborating with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Wisconsin Technical College System, experts from UW-Madison, and UW Extended Campus.
A primary goal of this initiative is to ease the integration into society of ex-prisoners. Society is aware of the difficulty of returning to normal life. The economic goals should not be forgotten, as the degrees are mostly in the field lacking workforce. However, Thompson believes that this would help to lower the criminality rates by educating responsible citizens.
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