Education & Research
Bringing together “inside” incarcerated and “outside” university students, faculty and community members for higher education through courses, workshops and research.
********This is the desktop & tablet/ipad version.
– Trinh via SSCERT WebTeam
Our Mission
Our mission is to make post-secondary education accessible to women and young people who are currently incarcerated, and to bring UCLA faculty and students to learn alongside them, thereby challenging bias, discrimination, and injustice in a shared and collaborative learning experience. This is an extraordinary opportunity for us to more fully realize UCLA’s mission as a public research institution: to create, disseminate and apply knowledge for the betterment of our global society.
Our Story
In 2015, women incarcerated at the California Institute for Women (CIW) wrote letters requesting a “Center for Incarceration Studies.” Their proposal called for higher education opportunities to cultivate critical thinking skills and innovative approaches to justice. Since 2015, the UCLA Prison Education Program has provided courses in seven carceral facilities in Southern California. Our courses bring UCLA students and faculty into prisons for classes and workshops with incarcerated students.
In 2022, the Center for Justice (CFJ) at UCLA was launched. CFJ works to end injustice and inequities on the basis of race, gender, class, sexual orientation and disability. We work to dismantle the prison industrial complex and racialized mass incarceration by expanding higher education, facilitating creative spaces, using transformative practices, and movement building on university campuses, in system-impacted communities and correctional facilities.
CFJ forges a collaborative hub using critical pedagogy, culturally-sustaining and multi-disciplinary methods. Linking prisons, classrooms, and grassroots organizations, our work is guided by those who experience incarceration and are system-impacted. We recognize equal access to education is at the heart of systemic and structural change towards justice. Visit https://prisoneduprogram.ucla.edu/ to learn more.
********This is the Mobile version.
– Trinh via SSCERT WebTeam
Our Mission
Our mission is to make post-secondary education accessible to women and young people who are currently incarcerated, and to bring UCLA faculty and students to learn alongside them, thereby challenging bias, discrimination, and injustice in a shared and collaborative learning experience. This is an extraordinary opportunity for us to more fully realize UCLA’s mission as a public research institution: to create, disseminate and apply knowledge for the betterment of our global society.
Our Story
In 2015, women incarcerated at the California Institute for Women (CIW) wrote letters requesting a “Center for Incarceration Studies.” Their proposal called for higher education opportunities to cultivate critical thinking skills and innovative approaches to justice. Since 2015, the UCLA Prison Education Program has provided courses in seven carceral facilities in Southern California. Our courses bring UCLA students and faculty into prisons for classes and workshops with incarcerated students.
In 2022, the Center for Justice (CFJ) at UCLA was launched. CFJ works to end injustice and inequities on the basis of race, gender, class, sexual orientation and disability. We work to dismantle the prison industrial complex and racialized mass incarceration by expanding higher education, facilitating creative spaces, using transformative practices, and movement building on university campuses, in system-impacted communities and correctional facilities.
CFJ forges a collaborative hub using critical pedagogy, culturally-sustaining and multi-disciplinary methods. Linking prisons, classrooms, and grassroots organizations, our work is guided by those who experience incarceration and are system-impacted. We recognize equal access to education is at the heart of systemic and structural change towards justice. Visit https://prisoneduprogram.ucla.edu/ to learn more.
********This is the desktop & tablet/ipad version.
– Trinh via SSCERT WebTeam
Who We Are
The Math
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics
********This is the Mobile version.
– Trinh via SSCERT WebTeam
Who We Are
Jai Williams
Program Manager
The Math
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics
********This is the desktop and ipad/tablet version.
– Trinh via SSCERT WebTeam
What We Do
Orientations & 5 Pillars
Before courses and programs begin inside correctional facilities, UCLA students, faculty, and incarcerated students are required to participate in a mandatory orientation. Each orientation is organized and facilitated in collaboration with formerly incarcerated and justice system-impacted students and community members, and structured around critical issues developed by incarcerated women and youth in Think Tanks at CIW prison and BJN juvenile hall. Orientations are designed to be movement based and participatory, and they are centered around 5 Pillars.
- Privilege
- Assumptions
- Academic Integrity
- Protocol
- Trauma
Our Goals
********This is the mobile version.
– Trinh via SSCERT WebTeam
What We Do
Orientations & 5 Pillars
Before courses and programs begin inside correctional facilities, UCLA students, faculty, and incarcerated students are required to participate in a mandatory orientation. Each orientation is organized and facilitated in collaboration with formerly incarcerated and justice system-impacted students and community members, and structured around critical issues developed by incarcerated women and youth in Think Tanks at CIW prison and BJN juvenile hall. Orientations are designed to be movement based and participatory, and they are centered around 5 Pillars.
- Privilege
- Assumptions
- Academic Integrity
- Protocol
- Trauma
Our Goals
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