The Transformative Journey of Higher Education in Prison

This volume follows one man’s revolutionary journey from deficient early education to his incarceration on North Carolina’s death row, where he was given the opportunity to pursue higher education.

By pairing Lyle May‘s engaging first-person account with current scholarly literature, this book examines the complex relationship between the United States’ educational and penal systems. It also documents the role of education in May’s contributions to society through writing, teaching, and activism. Flouting the stereotype that people sentenced to long prison terms lack an ability or desire for higher education, May’s experience champions individualism as a means of overcoming most environmental challenges to learning, personal growth, and societal involvement. With the right amount of motivation and dedication, even prison walls do not preclude significant contributions to the community or participation in criminal justice reform. Granting access to higher education in places that often lack an academic apparatus, Ohio University’s College Program for the Incarcerated provides an avenue for correctional students to enroll in accredited correspondence courses and earn an Associate or Bachelors of Specialized Studies degree. This book’s recounting of May’s experience with the program augments existing literature on higher education in prison by illustrating the tragic but common pitfall of the school-to-prison pipeline and one man’s determination to pursue higher education despite the hindrances inherent in the prison environment.

Informing both students and educators about aspects of prison life that are not always considered, this book is a valuable component of a well-rounded corrections course reading list. It is essential for educators and students, criminal justice reformers, criminologists, penologists, or any reader intent on understanding how independent learning is critical to unlocking the rehabilitative and reintegrative potential of higher education in prison.