– By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

It’s not the end of the road if you end up in the pen, as these women are proving. They are pursuing an education, not within the walls of a classroom, but from behind bars. The College Program for the Incarcerated (CPI) offered by the Ohio University (OU) has breathed new hope into the lives of women confined to the Virginia Correctional Center for Women by allowing them to enroll in correspondence courses.

The advantages are numerous:

• The women spend their time usefully
• They can start their own businesses once they are released. Job offers for ex-cons are few and far between.
• They generally never return to the world of crime. This means they are not jailed again, which saves taxpayers’ money.
• They use their education and experience to counsel youngsters and deter them from the path of crime.

The program does not claim to be a huge success – only 61 of the 3,454 inmates who enrolled over the past five years went on to earn degrees, but doesn’t every small drop contribute to the mammoth size of the ocean? Another factor is the cost – students have to pay for their own education. At $136 per hour, the price is a bit steep, and only those who have supportive families are able to indulge in this luxury.

Credits are transferable to other universities once the women are set free. They are also offered the opportunity to continue at OU, if they so desire.