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Education Insight: UCR – Transforming Inmate Rehabilitation with In-Person Degrees
About This Episode
Season 4. Episode 9.
In this episode of Education Insight, we dive into a powerful initiative that aims to reduce recidivism by making inmates truly employable through education. With California spending over $14 billion annually on housing, feeding, and providing healthcare for more than 100,000 inmates, experts agree that the current system is unsustainable. While the number of incarcerated individuals has slightly decreased, economists and analysts warn that more needs to be done to break the cycle of incarceration.
A group of professors and administrators at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) believes that education is the key to solving this issue. That’s why UCR has launched an innovative program offering in-person degree courses at Norco Prison, giving inmates the opportunity to earn a college education and improve their future employment prospects.
In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Farah Godrej, a professor of political science and co-director of UCR’s School of Education Lifted program, which is leading this transformative effort. Dr. Godrej shares her insights into the program’s development, the challenges they’ve faced, and how it’s already making an impact on the lives of incarcerated students. Tune in to hear more about this groundbreaking initiative and how education is reshaping the future of rehabilitation in California.
Featured Guest
Farah Godrej
Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Riverside and Co-Founding Director of UCR’s LIFTED program
Farah Godrej is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Riverside. Her areas of research and teaching include Indian political thought, Gandhi’s political thought, cosmopolitanism, globalization and comparative political theory. She also studies contemporary issues such as environmental justice, food politics and mass incarceration. Her research appears in a number of prominent journals across disciplines, and she is the author of Cosmopolitan Political Thought: Method, Practice, Discipline (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). Her new book Freedom Inside? Yoga and Meditation in the Carceral State (Oxford University Press, 2022) is the winner of the 2023 Charles Taylor Book Award from the American Political Science Association, and received honorable mentions for the 2023 American Association of Publishers (AAP) PROSE award for scholarly excellence and the 2023 Lee Ann Fujii Award for Innovation in the Interpretive Study of Political Violence from the American Political Science Association. She is the Co-Founding Director of UCR’s path-breaking LIFTED program, which offers a UCR B.A. degree to incarcerated students.
Interview Highlights
3:57 – Adrienne describes dual enrollment and its benefits.
7:15 – Adrienne speaks to how recent California mandates and initiatives may have influenced the growth of these new programs.
8:34 – Adrienne explains what research shows about the impact of dual enrollment on a student’s academic achievements or even their future success.
9:24 – Adrienne shares examples of dual enrollment activities that are taking place in our region and what is happening in the IE.
13:11 – Adrienne talks about strategies in place to make sure that equal opportunities are available for all students.
20:18 – Jorge explains how dual enrollment aligns with his role at Riverside County Unified School District.
21:28 – Jorge shares his experiences and thoughts on the current dual enrollment programs that are being offered at Riverside Unified School District.
23:32 – Jorge gives insight into how dual enrollment makes students career ready.
25:58 – Jorge describes what challenges students typically face in dual enrollment programs and how he addresses those issues.
32:43 – Jorge shares what he would like to see be the future of the dual enrollment program in his district and beyond.
36:31 – Special Feature: Avijeet Randhawa, 8th-Grader, Auburndale Intermediate School in the Corona Norco Unified School District.
View our podcast page for more stories like this: https://gia.echofactory.dev/gia-podcasts/
Education Insight tells the story of education in the Inland Empire through the diverse voices of those in and around the regional education community. The show is produced by Growing Inland Achievement, a collective impact organization in the Inland Empire with a mission to increase economic prosperity in the region by increasing educational attainment. Hosted by 30-year broadcast veteran Lacey Kendall, monthly shows explore topics ranging from education challenges and shortcomings to innovations and groundbreaking ideas that are driving student success.
