General Best Practices

Prison-University partnerships

A strong prison-university partnership is built on mutual respect, transparency, and a shared commitment to supporting student learning. While the university is an independent organization, it is operating within the confines of another structured, bureaucratic institution. Because of this, programs rely on regular coordination and support from correctional partners, including the prison education team, custody staff working in education spaces, and facility leadership.

Sharing Information

Program teams must work closely with correctional partners to understand institutional priorities, policies, and day-to-day operations, while also advocating for the needs of students and faculty. This dynamic may be new for some faculty who are used to a high level of autonomy on a traditional campus. In this setting, strong relationships are essential and only developed through ongoing communication, problem-solving, and a willingness to adapt and innovate if issues arise.

Transparency and Consistency

Clear processes are essential to maintaining this partnership. Both the university and the correctional institution should have established procedures for areas such as scheduling, materials, clearances, and communication.

Communication and Processes

Equally important is identifying clear points of contact on both sides. Having designated individuals helps ensure that communication is coordinated and that decisions are not made in isolation. These roles should be clearly defined and consistently used. Program teams should be thoughtful about who is responsible for communication and decision-making, particularly given the additional layers of responsibility involved in working within a correctional setting. Points of contact should be trusted individuals who understand both the program and the institution, and who can navigate questions, requests, and challenges with care and consistency.

“For somebody starting new, the lesson we learned was to have everybody at the table as soon as possible. Because in the early days there was miscommunication, which caused people to have a little bit less trust and concerns about just the viability of the program overall. So if you can get all of your players at the table and really be thinking about it [holistically], from the time you are evaluating a student's readiness to the time that they graduate—the registrar support, the financial aid support, the accounting support—everything that you can think of…I think that puts you in a better place to have a successful launch of the program…We had to get the right people at the table in order for this to be less burdensome for everyone and more enjoyable.”

“I'm a big proponent of sharing the why up front…One of the things that was really valuable for me was attending the [VISTA] graduation. We don't often get to visit with the students, so being there and seeing the value created by all of the behind the scenes work and all of the non-standard workflows and processes, being able to see firsthand in person [students] with their families, the students themselves, hearing their speeches, it really hit home that all of the setup and the…’ how can we get this through?’ or ‘how can we fit this round peg in a square hole?’ was worth it. I think the more people see the results, the more buy-in and more collaboration we'll continue to see across units.”

“The biggest thing that we need to keep in mind is this requires collaboration across the entire institution. It also requires buy-in. This program is fairly resource intensive, so we definitely need buy-in from the academic side to teach, provide the program, the programming, the teaching, monetarily, and also work all the contractual relationships with the correctional oversight agency and the correctional facilities. And then obviously there’s financial aid. There is a continuing resource requirement to interact with all these institutions and situations and to process aid for our students. You have to go in with eyes wide open. You have to realize this is a commitment. This is giving back to the community. This is something that's a huge benefit for these students, but everything comes with a cost, right? So you have to know that cost, be willing to pay it and support it.”