Joe Stewart, who teaches high school classes at Southwest Utah Youth Center in Cedar City, said the program allowed him to focus on students’ individual needs in core high school classes, while the professors teach their specialties. But there are signs that it’s having some positive impact, Caplin said: “One of our young scholars said that, for two hours a day, she forgets that she’s in prison.” It’s too early to determine if that learning has helped those students released from detention find jobs, continue their education or avoid re-arrest. Classes are taught by professors from Utah Tech University, which oversees the program, and from Brigham Young University, Weber State University and Southern Utah University. Thus far, students in those college-level courses have earned about 539 credits in English, criminal justice, biology, political science, philosophy, art, economics and finance, and music, Caplin said.
The average length of stay is about nine months. George) in 2020.Īt any point during the year, an average of 74 youth are incarcerated across Utah’s five long-term facilities.
Caplin, a lawyer who previously taught online classes for rural Utahns, proposed the idea for the program to Utah State Rep. Those who don’t pass can take the class for high school credit, said Nate Caplin, the program’s manager. To get college credit for college-level English, social sciences and math classes, students must first pass a screening test. Utah’s Higher Education for Incarcerated Youth program, which is funded by an annual $300,000 state appropriation, lets participants study English, social sciences and math classes as well as personal finance, intro to economics, social ethics and other courses. They may also be spending down their PELL grant eligibility before they’re ready to work toward a degree,” she said. “If these young people aren’t prepared for advanced course work, they may wind up with an F on their college transcript. Korman, a partner at education consulting nonprofit Bellwether Education Partners, cautioned against pushing students into college courses before they’re ready. And incarcerated youth are identified as needing special education services - or already receiving services - at a rate four times higher than their peers.Ībout half of the Utah students in the program would not be considered “college-ready” at many institutions. Nationally, more than half of all incarcerated juveniles have reading and math skills far behind their peers. Young offenders often lag behind academically
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That can’t happen if a facility only offers minimal education opportunities,” said David Domenici, executive director at Break Free Education, a nonprofit that develops and advocates for educational programming throughout criminal justice systems. “Every long-term youth facility should be rehabilitative in nature. Jennifer Rodriguez, executive director of the Youth Law Center in San Francisco said it’s hard to pin down exactly how many states offer postsecondary education to incarcerated youth in part because they are held in a variety of facilities - juvenile halls, camps, ranches, youth prisons, and adult jails and prisons.
Utah’s Higher Education for Incarcerated Youth program even goes beyond what’s offered to incarcerated adults in Utah: Most adults in Utah prisons do not have access to free college-level courses. Since its May 2022 launch, about 80 youth across Utah’s five long-term juvenile detention facilities have taken classes through the program.Īlong with New Jersey and California, Utah is among a growing number of states that are implementing postsecondary programming for incarcerated youth. He is thankful, said Chase, 18, of Ogden, for that program. “Really, I learned to believe in myself again.”
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I learned how to be an adult,” Chase, who asked to be identified only by his first name, said of the classes offered under Utah’s new Higher Education for Incarcerated Youth program. GEORGE, UTAH - At the end of the two years he spent at a juvenile detention center in Ogden, Utah, Chase returned to his hometown with a high school diploma and 19.5 college credits, and a plan to earn a bachelor’s degree in business and manufacturing technology.
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