Over the last thirty years, the prison population in the United States has increased more than sevenfold to over two million people, including a socially catastrophic disproportionate number of minorities with little education. Education is known to many as the most powerful weapon to change the world. It is a gateway to social and economic mobility and a powerful instrument for reducing poverty and inequality, yet the color line divides us all. For many years, alarming disparities in higher education have shown serious gaps in accessing higher education for African Americans, yet this is not new. Racial injustice has been baked into our education system since its genesis, and we still cannot shake it. This deep-seated institutionalized inequality is embedded in systems and laws, yet the scale and empirical details tell a largely unknown story.

For decades, political leaders have used their power to impose morally bankrupt, freedom-denying policies and practices that lockout formerly incarcerated and incarcerated individuals from obtaining higher education if they were convicted of a drug conviction. In the 1994 Crime Bill, Congress removed Pell Grant eligibility for formerly incarcerated people, and the number of higher education in prison programs dropped from 800 to only 12 by 2005. Congress has now corrected that mistake, and in the 2022-2023 academic year, more than 400,000 incarcerated individuals will become eligible for Pell Grants.

Before the enactment of the bill, this removal relegates formerly incarcerated people to “the lowest level of the educational ladder.” This barrier signals to formerly incarcerated and incarcerated individuals that they are unwelcome in institutions and unequal. It also prevents their economic integration and contributes to the revolving door of release and re-incarceration. A Beautiful HEART Ministries  aim  to provide accurate and accessible information to individuals, communities, and policymakers through our education initiative. Through community workshops, public forums, online resources, and partnerships with educational institutions, we aim to raise awareness about the flaws within the current justice system. Our research and programming bodies will also be centered on public safety, racial disparities, rehabilitation, and restorative justice approaches. First, we will outline how the labor market trends warrant the immediate participation of formerly incarcerated individuals in postsecondary education. Then, we will provide a historical overview of literacy and its relationship to incarceration, followed by the school-to-prison pipeline, and lastly, the relationship between trauma, arrest, and incarceration among Black Americans. We will then draft model programs that will facilitate a successful partnership and collaboration with other institutions, focusing on reducing the rate of imprisonment and literacy.