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LIBERATING MINDS: THE CASE FOR COLLEGE IN PRISON by Ellen Condliffe Lagemann New York: The New Press, 2016. 211 pp. $26.95 (hardcover).
In Liberating Minds: The Case for College in Prison, author Ellen Condliffe Lagemann introduces readers to Anthony Cardenales, or Tone, a young man born into a poor family in the South Bronx. Tone's father was addicted to drugs and his mother couldn't maintain steady employment, circumstances that made growing up difficult. Tone dropped out of school in the seventh grade, began dealing drugs and committing armed robbery, and was eventually imprisoned on murder charges. It wasn't until his eight-year-old daughter started getting into fights just as he had that he decided to make a change and "embarked on a decade-long journey toward his bachelor's degree" (p. 33). He enrolled in a college-in-prison program through Bard College and eventually graduated and gained employment. Tone's is one of many stories that give texture to Lagemann's discussion of college in prison, forming a compelling economic and civic argument for the benefits of higher education in carceral spaces.
Lagemann's insightful book draws on several sources of data. The first is her own deep experience serving as a teacher and adviser in the New York State prisons, where Bard operates college programs. In addition to the biographical data she includes about students she has known, grounding her analysis in "firsthand reports and observations" (p. 9), Lagemann also draws on extant research related to college in prison, highlighting studies that show decreases in recidivism rates, economic benefits, and the positive spillover effects of these programs for families and communities on the outside. The first five chapters enumerate the many benefits of college in prison, and the last three chapters discuss concrete examples of diverse prison education programs as well as the successes and persistent challenges that define these programs. Through her detailed review of existing research, the final chapters reveal the relative scarcity of both higher education programs in prisons and rigorous research about them and the persistent importance of expanding both.
In chapter 1 Lagemann highlights the personal and academic benefits of college for incarcerated people. Quoting the National Leadership Council for Liberal Education (2007), Lagemann notes that the traditional arguments in favor of higher education, such as...