Founded in 2016 as a program of Dwight Hall, Yale’s Center for Public Service and Social Justice, the Yale Prison Education Initiative (YPEI) began offering Yale courses for academic credit at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Summer 2018, with the admission of its first cohort of 12 students. In 2021 the University of New Haven joined the program, adding the ability to matriculate in two- and four-year degrees to incarcerated students, and creating pathways for any released students onto the college campus. In Fall 2022, the program expanded to reach women incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut.
The program is designed to provide students with a strong liberal arts curriculum that allows for exploration in a wide variety of disciplines and interests. To date, YPEI and the University of New Haven together have facilitated over 500 unique enrollments in credit-bearing college courses for 70 incarcerated students, with over 130 faculty members, staff, and graduate students from the University of New Haven and Yale teaching, guest lecturing, or otherwise extending access to their on-campus classrooms and research projects to incarcerated students. All courses are offered in-person.
Our faculty are leaders and innovators in their fields, bringing both deep professional experience and academic rigor to the classroom.
The University of New Haven offers a wide variety of in-depth courses that create a transformational educational experience for our students. The following academic programs and their related courses are offered as part of the Prison Education Program:
University News
A three-year renewal grant from the Mellon Foundation provides additional funding to support a degree-granting partnership first established in 2021 between the University of New Haven and the Yale Prison Education Initiative. The new funding will expand opportunities for incarcerated students in Connecticut.
The Charger Blog
The program's second annual Commencement ceremony recognized the accomplishments of the program's newest graduates, and was the first Bachelor of Arts degree graduation ceremony in a prison in Connecticut.
The Charger Blog
The University of New Haven Prison Education Program and the Yale Prison Education Initiative are collaborating to create transformative educational opportunities for incarcerated students. The Charger and local communities recently came together to support the program and reflect on how it is making an important difference in the lives of students.
The Charger Blog
Marcus T. Harvin ’23 A.S., ’25 is committed to ensuring that community members in his New Haven neighborhood have enough to eat. He and his fellow volunteers are providing food donated by local universities, including the University of New Haven.
University News
As part of the inaugural Commencement of the program and the innovative partnership, the University of New Haven and YPEI recently recognized more than half a dozen new graduates who earned their associate degrees while discovering the myriad joys and possibilities that education can offer.
In the Media
The University of New Haven and the Yale Prison Education Initiative celebrated the program's first-ever college graduation inside the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution. Attendees included Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont and Interim President Sheahon Zenger.
In the Media
The University of New Haven and the Yale Prison Education Initiative celebrated the program's first-ever college graduation inside the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution. Attendees included Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont and Interim President Sheahon Zenger.
The Charger Blog
The University of New Haven’s Prison Education Program and its collaboration with the Yale Prison Education Initiative continue to grow – expanding its associate degree program to a second prison in Connecticut, launching a bachelor’s degree program, and becoming one of 73 colleges and universities nationwide selected to be part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Second Chance Pell Experiment.
University News
An award from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will fund a collaboration with the Yale Prison Education Initiative to create a degree-granting program for incarcerated students in Connecticut.
Interested faculty can propose teaching courses in prison, and students or other University community members can support the program through volunteering or in other capacities. Click here to learn about teaching and volunteer opportunities (myCharger login required).