Educational Justice: A Resource Guide
Nearly two million people in the U.S. are currently incarcerated. The majority of them want to enroll in an academic class or program. Educational justice is about making sure they can: by providing access to high quality educational programming and tutoring, advocating for living conditions that make learning possible, and real support inside carceral and reentry facilities. This guide explores the foundations of the concept, helps articulate the definition of educational justice, and assembles videos, podcasts, articles, reports, and other material to help you learn more and research the topic in depth.
What is educational justice? Defining the term.
Watch: What Is Educational Justice? A panel discussion
This recorded webinar, hosted by The Petey Greene Program in 2023, explores the multifaceted concept of educational justice for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. Facilitator Maco L. Faniel defines educational justice as high-quality programming centered on the "freedom dreams" of system-impacted people, coupled with humane confinement conditions and robust reentry support. The Petey Greene Program supports this mission by providing volunteer tutoring across multiple states and educating the public on systemic carceral injustices.
Educators, researchers, and formerly incarcerated leaders discuss what it actually takes to make educational justice possible—and the tension of doing this work inside a prison system while still pushing to change it.
A major takeaway is the need to shift the focus of prison education from state-centric goals, like reducing recidivism, to the personal and educational aspirations of the learners themselves. The panel identifies tutoring as a critical component of educational justice, as it fosters humanizing learning communities that mimic traditional campus environments.
Four Tenets of Educational Justice
Removing barriers to education
People from marginalized communities have historically been excluded from educational opportunities. The following resources cover educational programs and resources built to help remedy this and address unique needs of underserved communities.
🎧 Podcast — A Playbook for College Programs in Prisons (Future U) How colleges are building programs inside prisons now that Pell Grants are back — and the statewide partnerships making it easier.
📖 Book — Fugitive Pedagogy The history of Black educators building schools and learning spaces despite systems designed to keep them out.
📄 Report — Mass Incarceration and Children's Outcomes: Criminal Justice Policy Is Education Policy How incarceration policy and education policy are more connected than most people realize.
🎬 Short — Explaining Pell Grants for the Incarcerated A quick, clear explainer on how financial aid works for incarcerated students today.
🎬 Short — Inside a Completely Free College Program at Bard Microcollege A look inside a tuition-free college built specifically for incarcerated students.
Access to high quality educational programming with tutoring
Students should have access to culturally competent, safe, judgement-free educational spaces. Educators should respect and motivate students to pursue their educational goals.
🎬 Short — Princeton Reunions Panel 2026: Tutoring Inside Prison & Reentry Communities
📄 Article — Raising the Bar: Dignity-Affirming Approaches to Teaching in Juvenile Court Schools
📄 Article — Windward Community College Expands Hawaiian Studies to Arizona Prison
📄 Report — Only Young Once: The Case for Dismantling the South's School-to-Prison Pipeline
Access to educational resources
Students should have access to tutoring, mentorship, accommodations, research databases, and supplemental materials as needed.
📄 Article — Expanding Information Access for Incarcerated People
📄 Article — Empowerment Avenue Helps Incarcerated Writers Get Their Work Published (TriplePundit)
🎬 Short — Introducing JSTOR Access in Prison A research library that now reaches more than a million incarcerated learners around the world.
💬 Story — "They Have Wisdom I Don't Have": One Teacher's Journey Into Prison Education
💬 Story — Michele's Story
📄 Article — Disability, Accessibility, and Higher Education in Prisons (Ithaka S+R)
Holistic support
Education doesn't happen in a vacuum. Students need access to stable housing, food, and humane living conditions in order to focus on their educational goals.
🎬 Short — From Prison to the #1 Public University: UC Berkeley's Underground Scholars
🎧 Podcast — Underground Scholars: A Statewide Movement Azadeh Zohrabi, director of Underground Scholars, on the program's work supporting formerly incarcerated students across every UC campus.
📄 Article — I Went From Prison to Professor — Here's Why Criminal Records Shouldn't Keep People Out of College
🎧 Podcast How College Access and Programs Impact Academic Success and Life Outcomes Post Release
Definitions and the panel summary are adapted from the Petey Greene Program's Justice Education Series.