Inmates Are Now Earning Free College Degrees Behind Bars

The Hud­son link is a non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion that pro­vides col­lege edu­ca­tion to inmates. The pro­gram that works with five dif­fer­ent pris­ons allows inmates to earn a col­lege degree while being incar­cer­at­ed. 

Hud­son Link has been in oper­a­tion for over 21 years; they have award­ed over 700 degrees to inmates, and 600 stu­dents in state prison are cur­rent­ly enrolled in the pro­gram. Hud­son Link esti­mat­ed that the gen­er­al rate of recidi­vism in the state is 43%. Pris­on­ers who earn and leave with a degree have only a 2% chance of being re-incar­cer­at­ed. 

The orga­ni­za­tion was found­ed by Sean Pica, who served a prison sen­tence back in 1998. Pica served a reduced prison sen­tence of 16 years.
Soon after his release, Pica began work­ing on cre­at­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for inmates in the hope of giv­ing them a sec­ond chance in life. 

Hud­son Link reports that it costs $60,000 per year to house inmates in New York state prison, but with only $5,000, they can pro­vide inmates with edu­ca­tion while they are in prison. Hud­son Link orga­ni­za­tion pro­vides these ser­vices to inmates at no cost thanks to pri­vate dona­tions and spon­sor­ships. 

We are extreme­ly excit­ed to see what the future of this non-prof­it foun­da­tion has in store for inmates. 

Blogged By: Sonia DeLos­san­tos