{"id":28,"date":"2013-02-21T14:28:58","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T19:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/pep\/?page_id=28"},"modified":"2026-08-13T11:54:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T15:54:56","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/pep\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"History of the BU Prison Education Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Boston University Prison Education Program was founded by labor organizer, tenant activist, and poet Elizabeth \u201cMa\u201d Barker, a BU instructor in the early 1970s, <\/p>\n

In 1971, Barker was tasked with running BU\u2019s College Bowl quiz team, a collection of students that would compete, sometimes on television, against representatives from other universities in a trivia contest. Already a familiar face around MCI\u2013Norfolk, a medium-security men’s prison where she regularly held poetry readings, Barker gave a team of incarcerated individuals the chance to compete against her BU Terriers. <\/p>\n

When Boston University lost the game, Barker was impressed and moved by the intellectual talent and academic potential of the individuals she\u2019d met at MCI\u2013Norfolk. She returned to BU determined to bring access to college courses into the prison. <\/p>\n

Despite encountering some initial resistance, Barker persisted until she found an ally in Boston University’s incoming president, John Silber. Together, Barker and Silber worked to champion the idea that access to higher education should extend beyond the boundaries of campus. <\/p>\n

In 1972, the Boston University Prison Education Program offered its first credit-bearing college courses at MCI\u2013Norfolk. In 1991, the program expanded to MCI\u2013Framingham, Massachusetts’ only women’s prison. <\/p>\n

Today, with more than 500 students who have successfully completed a BU program while incarcerated over its history, the Boston University Prison Education Program is part of a growing network of colleges and universities working to expand access to higher education in correctional settings.<\/p>\n

\n

\"AbbyAbby Ballou, PhD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director
\nBoston University\u2019s Prison Education Program<\/p>\n

PhD, Northeastern University; MPhil, City University of New York Graduate Center; BA, New York University<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Abby Ballou is director of the Boston University Metropolitan College Prison Education Program and a visiting assistant professor in MET\u2019s Department of Applied Social Sciences. She holds a PhD in criminology and criminal justice from Northeastern University, an MPhil in English literature from the City University of New York Graduate Center, and a BA in English literature from New York University.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ballou\u2019s research centers on carceral education, reentry, and labor market outcomes for formerly incarcerated individuals. Her recent work examines the impact of college credentials earned behind bars on employment opportunities. She was recently awarded grants from the National Institute of Justice and Arnold Ventures to explore the relationship between criminal records, education, and access to middle-skill jobs. Her work has been published in journals such as\u00a0Criminology<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Justice Quarterly<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Community Support<\/h2>\n

When our students leave prison, they are sometimes overwhelmed. After years of being incarcerated, freedom can be daunting and confusing. The Boston University Prison Education Program (BU PEP) has partnered with Partakers since 1997 to provide mentoring support to students. A small, non-profit organization helping to reduce recidivism by promoting higher education and providing community mentoring for incarcerated women and men, Partakers enlists volunteers to provide general encouragement and post-release support through its \u201cCollege Behind Bars\u201d program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Boston University Prison Education Program was founded by labor organizer, tenant activist, and poet Elizabeth \u201cMa\u201d Barker, a BU instructor in the early 1970s, In 1971, Barker was tasked with running BU\u2019s College Bowl quiz team, a collection of students that would compete, sometimes on television, against representatives from other universities in a trivia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1437,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/no-sidebars.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1080,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28\/revisions\/1080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/pep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}