An article described a program leading to pastoral degrees for inmates.
Main point: “…the degree program is part of a fledgling movement of evangelical seminaries, colleges and universities to rehabilitate prisoners through education.”
More about it:
- “The graduation marks a first for the North Carolina prison system, which to date offers no other in-person accredited bachelor’s program for some 30,000 state prisoners.”
- “There are at least 17 evangelical schools offering 23 degree programs at prisons across the country, according to the Prison Seminary Foundation, a Christian nonprofit that supports such efforts.”
- “…seminary professors teach in-person and online to inmates with at least eight years left on their sentence.”
Why it matters:
- This is very strategic and should be pursued/expanded aggressively. I hope Christian schools expand this to secondary education as well.
- Maybe programs like Samford’s Ministry Training Institute (MTI) could be used to supplement this. The programs offer seminary-level content without the extensive academic requirements. That might be useful for those not sure if they want to take on academic challenges just yet. Programs like Samford’s MTI could become part of a path toward the degrees by acclimating inmates to academic work.