<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4CwOp3_1Gsx7hYG00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4CwOp3_1Gsx7hYG00" width="1200" height="659" ><figcaption>The Alliance currently employs two recent BCPEP graduates, both incarcerated at MCI-Shirley. As part of the internship, the interns earn $25 an hour and work 20 hours per week remotely. (Ellie El-Fishawy / Heights Editor)</figcaption></figure>Boston College Prison Education Program (BCPEP) recently launched a six-month pilot program offering paid remote internships for incarcerated graduates in collaboration with the Alliance for Higher Education in Prisons and the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.“This is not only a first for our program, this is a first for the Department of Corrections in Massachusetts,” said BCPEP Director and Ignacio Chair Patrick Conway, GMCAS ’12 and GLSOE ’22. “Honestly, nationally, there’s not too many of these opportunities that are regularly available.”The Alliance currently employs two recent BCPEP graduates, both incarcerated at MCI-Shirley. As part of the internship, the interns earn $25 an hour and work 20 hours per week remotely. According to Natalie Aragonez, program and operations manager at the Alliance, the BCPEP alumni largely worked on preparations for the Alliance’s annual Incarcerated Scholars Conference, which took place on Oct. 28 and 29.“They were high-impact contributors in the planning and development of the actual conference,” said Aragonez, who supervises the incarcerated interns’ work. “It was really internal event planning, strategic types of internal work that they were highly engaged in for the first two months of their fellowship.”After the conference, the interns’ professional focus shifted to the Alliance’s Education in Action (EIA) initiative, which establishes a work-study program for incarcerated individuals across the nation. Aragonez noted that the interns are responsible for tasks such as conducting relevant research and interviewing officials to analyze the EIA’s impact.“They’re doing strategy work that will impact access and opportunity for folks engaging in higher education in prison as far as policy reform,” Aragonez said. “They’re paving the way, trailblazing, and creating history through their fellowships that will expand throughout this country.”In addition to their hourly wage, interns earn $2.50 per hour toward a BCPEP emergency reentry fund designed to eliminate additional barriers to participating in society post-incarceration.“We can be really strong in terms of the academic support we’re providing, but it might not mean all that much if someone’s struggling with housing or transportation or food instability,” Conway said. “Being able to help provide some assistance there would be useful, so that was part of the idea for that.”Benefits of professional development programs in prison are not only limited to the future career prospects of the incarcerated individuals involved, Aragonez explained, but these career opportunities also impact community wellness and public safety.“There’s a correlation between professional opportunities, credentials, and degrees earned behind the walls that translates to much, much, much lower recidivism rates,” Aragonez said. “They come out, they’re very contributing members of society that are engaging in civic leadership. They’re net positives to their communities.” Conway shared that a major obstacle to facilitating professional experiences in prisons is finding employers willing to provide those opportunities. He challenged the notion that incarcerated individuals make inferior employees. “I think the idea is oftentimes like people in prison are going to be somehow ‘less than’ in terms of what they can produce, but the best students in our program would definitely be 4.0 students on campus,” Conway said. “In general, where remote work is possible, there’s a lot of talent inside prison.”Conway hopes to expand the work-study program to other prisons, including MCI-Framingham, where there is a women’s BCPEP. “How our program has worked in general is starting small, learning, and then being iterative with that process, so improving as we go,” Conway said. “I do think there is an appetite for more of this at a statewide level.”Aragonez emphasized that the interns’ academic drive and institutional pride define their presence on the team, calling them “two of [her] absolute most esteemed colleagues.” “I’m telling you, these gentlemen, they are Boston College all the way,” Aragonez said. “We’re so proud to have them on our team.”</div></body>

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Boston College Prison Education Program (BCPEP) recently launched a six-month pilot program offering paid remote internships for incarcerated graduates in collaboration with the Alliance for Higher Education in Prisons and the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. “This is not only a first for our program, this is a first for the...

BC’s Prison Education Program Launches Work-Study Program For Incarcerated Graduates

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Boston College Prison Education Program (BCPEP) recently launched a six-month pilot program offering paid remote internships for incarcerated graduates in 

BC’s Prison Education Program Launches Work-Study Program For Incarcerated Graduates

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