Bipartisan bill aims to improve prison education, reduce recidivism

Virginia lawmakers advanced a bipartisan prison education reform bill, but Senate revisions altered its original scope.

Del. Betsy B. Carr, D-Richmond, introduced House Bill 2158, which mandated the Department of Corrections to implement a consistent education system across its facilities, according to the bill. 

Carr has worked on getting higher education and Pell grants into the prison system. The bill’s chief co-patron Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chester, has worked to expand literacy education in prison, according to Carr. This led the delegates to work together on the bill. 

“What we hope to do, is to provide more workforce for people coming out of the prisons, to reduce recidivism and to save taxpayers money,” Carr said.

The original bill required DOC to implement functional literacy, secondary and postsecondary education programs in all state prisons, along with other provisions. A Senate substitute scaled back those mandates and proposed a task force to study future actions.

Lawmakers hashed out the differences in a conference committee and reached a compromise that keeps some key provisions, including a Virginia Prison Education Task Force. 

Bill changes through legislative process

The original House bill wanted a functional literacy program for individuals testing at or below the eighth grade level; a program to prepare inmates to take the high school equivalency test, and a postsecondary education program to help with an associate’s degree or certificates and licenses.

The House version required the DOC to collaborate with agencies, such as the Virginia Community College System and the superintendent of Public Instruction, to support the development and administration of outlined programs, according to the bill.

Additionally, it set deadlines, including implementing literacy programs by January 2027, reducing waitlists within five years, and expanding postsecondary education to all state prisons by July 2030.

“We need to have people who serve their time and come out, and they’re educated, and able to move into the workforce, and continue their higher education, and become fulfilled working citizens, rather than returning to prison,” Carr said about the original version of the bill. 

Carr did not respond to two requests for comment on the changes to her bill.

Key provisions in final version

The final version of HB 2158 requires:

• The functional literacy program for individuals testing below a 12th-grade level to include evidence-based literacy instruction.

• Annual public reporting on enrollment and waitlists for prison education programs.

• Data sharing between DOC, the Virginia Community College System, and workforce development agencies to support Pell Grant eligibility and improve education outcomes.

• A structured salary review process to ensure teachers in correctional facilities receive competitive salaries relative to local school divisions by Nov. 1.

• The task force to submit annual reports starting in 2026, with a final report due by July 2030.

Advocates say education reduces recidivism

Kemba Smith Pradia is a prison reform activist who served six years of a 24.5 year sentence for drug-related charges. She was granted clemency by former President Bill Clinton in 2000, and had her voting rights restored in 2012, according to the Associated Press. 

Part of her success after release was because she was able to take 33 college credits while incarcerated, she said. 

“After coming out, because I took those courses, I know that it helped me set up for success, and it allowed me the ability to thrive,” Pradia told the House panel, in support of Carr’s bill. 

Pradia hopes Virginia follows other states after seeing how they can tap into hidden talent within their prison system, she said.

Jasmine Tyler is executive director of the Washington-based Justice Policy Institute, founded in 1997, and a professor in the prisons and justice initiative. The bill expands access to higher education, which could help with successful re-entry and reduce recidivism, Tyler said in full support.

“It’ll contribute to Virginia’s workforce once these folks come home, because even people who have very long sentences, mostly do come home,” Tyler said. “If we are able to increase access to education, then we can equip folks for jobs that are in high demand, and that require strong skills, while making the community safer.” 

Education is a fundamental right, whether a person is in prison or not, Tyler said.

“Our placement doesn’t change our rights,” Tyler said. “It’s critically necessary for prisons to actually recognize rights to ensure that people don’t have to suffer violence while there, and so that they can be successful when they do come home.”

Research shows return on investment

Virginia would actually save money by investing in prison education, according to Tyler Doughtery, a second-year law student at University of Virginia and member of UVA’s state and local government policy clinic. He worked with Carr on the bill.

National research shows that for every $1 spent on prison education, approximately $4 to $5 are saved in incarceration costs, according to Doughtery.

“What that looks like in Virginia specifically, is that it costs $61,000 to incarcerate a person annually,” Doughtery said. “Virginia bears that cost again when released individuals reoffend, which happens 20% of the time within three years, and 40% within 12 years.”

Virginia would be positioned to save millions of dollars, based on data that prison education helps to cut recidivism rates by 48%, according to Doughtery.

DOC would need more staffing and more space to implement digital learning and post-secondary education programs across all facilities, according to the bill’s impact statement. DOC reported it would need 40 classroom trailers, in addition to laptops, Smart Boards, staff technology training, upgraded network infrastructure and secure Wi-Fi access. To implement the bill as originally written would cost approximately $20 million spread over three fiscal years, according to the impact statement.