Back in April, LPC’s Rising Scholars program — a partnership with a local women’s prison — was suspended indefinitely when the facility was closed. The Federal Corrections Institute Dublin was shut down following reports of sweeping sexual abuse inflicted by staff on incarcerated women, so much so the prison was being dubbed the “rape club.” Its closure left the program — a statewide network formed to serve the population of local prisons’ incarcerated students and justice-impacted students at community colleges — at Las Positas without a prison with which to collaborate and stagnant.
However, the Rising Scholars program has shifted its focus to on-campus support for students who are incarcerated or have previously been incarcerated. The Rising Scholars Club provides educational resources and dedicated staff to help this demographic on campus recuperate and achieve successful reintegration into society.
According to the Harvard Political Review, half of the annual 600,000 people released from state and federal prisons are reincarcerated within three years of getting out. One of the main reasons for such high rates of reincarceration is the difficulty in reacclimation experienced by many justice-impacted people. In addition to the stigma, many have difficulty finding work because being imprisoned makes it hard to obtain “employable skills.” Being educated is a kind of antidote to unemployment and reentry post-release.
“One of the goals of the program,” said Christina Nystrom coordinator of LPC’s Rising Scholars, “is to help people that have been impacted by their conviction to the point where it’s harder for them to get a job, or harder for them to get housing. To just really help them. Freedom through education, that’s what we’re trying to provide.”
The Rising Scholars Network helps students earn certificates in degrees in correctional facilities through programs across California Community Colleges. The program’s goal is to improve college readiness, provide helpful resources and guide justice-impacted individuals to academic success. Educational programs reduce recidivism, the rate of a person’s relapse to criminal behavior and subsequent incarceration. They have a proven positive impact on producing more equitable outcomes for marginalized communities who are disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system.
“The chances of going back into jail or prison drops significantly when students have some college education,” Nystrom said. “To the point that if you’ve got a student that has a master’s degree, their recidivism rate is zero.”
The on-campus support for justice-impacted individuals is meant to remove barriers from these students at LPC and to help guide them through higher education. This includes applying and registering for classes, helping through the financial aid process and counseling on matriculating college.
LPC’s Rising Scholars program initially collaborated with FCI Dublin in February 2020 to offer educational services and opportunities for careers. Those who were eligible to participate could take classes for college-level certificates and associate degrees. But the closure of the FCI Dublin facility in April relocated inmates across the country. LPC president Dyrell Foster said the Rising Scholars is currently in conversation with Santa Rita Jail about a potential partnership. However, those plans are still in the early stages of development.
“We would love to get into Santa Rita to help teach some of the population there,” Nystrom said. “That’s our hope. Nothing is set.”
Nystrom and Traci Peterson, the educational partnerships project manager at LPC, attended the Santa Rita Jail Reentry Expo. They met over 200 prospective students for Rising Scholars. The event, held on Sept. 11, connected inmates with various services aimed at transitioning back into the local community.
“Christina does such a great job,” Peterson said. “We made some really great connections, and when they get released or transferred, they’ll think about education as a possibility for them instead of making other choices that could wind them back up in jail.”
As for the future of another educational partnership with FCI Dublin, there has been no update since the facility’s closure.
On Sept. 25, 2024, the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in Action Pre-Institute took place in Irvine, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Rising Scholars initiative in California Community Colleges. Sonya Christian, chancellor of California Community Colleges, attended. LPC was recognized as one of nine community colleges who operated the Rising Scholars program in a federal facility.
“We all make choices in life, and everyone deserves another chance,” Peterson said. “Everyone deserves a chance to make the right choice. And we all need support and resources and encouragement, and we need people to come around us. You know, you’re not successful by yourself. You need other people to come around you, and you know together you can really make something great.
“It’s about giving people encouragement and saying, ‘Here you can have this future, and we’ll help you get started at Las Positas.’ ”
Top photo: Incarcerated women at the Chillicothe Correctional Center in northern Missouri take part in courses. (Photo courtesy of Rockhurst University)
James Sevilla is the Web Editor and Production Editor for The Express. Follow him on X, formally Twitter, @JamesTSev.
