Northwestern Prison Education Program unlocks potential inside a maximum security prison

The Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) is an initiative of Northwestern University to provide a high-quality liberal arts education to incarcerated students in Illinois in partnership with Oakton Community College and the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). NPEP fills a vital need in Illinois by being the only degree-granting program in the state providing a full liberal arts curriculum—humanities, fine arts, social sciences, and STEM courses—to incarcerated students.

In addition to expanding access to college-level courses for a systematically disadvantaged population, NPEP strives to enhance Northwestern University’s academic mission by fostering a dynamic and diverse intellectual community extending beyond Northwestern’s campuses in Evanston, Chicago, and Qatar. By providing undergraduate, graduate, and professional students and faculty at Northwestern and Oakton with opportunities to teach and learn alongside incarcerated students, NPEP is giving the next generation of citizens, lawyers, and scholars the tools to confront the grave problems that plague our nation’s criminal justice system.

Each year, NPEP accepts a minimum of 20 men from medium- and maximum-security correctional facilities in Illinois through an admissions process that is rigorous and selective. NPEP currently serves 2 cohorts with a total of 41 students. Accepted students enroll in 2–3 courses per quarter at Stateville Correctional Center, a maximum-security men’s prison in Crest Hill, IL, approximately 50 miles southwest of Evanston.

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