Center for Prison Education Honored by Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities

On Nov. 21, Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education (CPE) was honored by the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) at its annual Leaders and Legends award ceremony in Hartford, Conn. The ceremony celebrates the state’s civil rights leaders in many different areas, including education, business or law, community activism, civic leadership, and social justice.

CPE received the Edythe J. Gaines Award for Inclusive Education, named in honor of the first African American and first woman to head the Hartford school system. The award recognizes educators who dedicate their careers to promoting equality, inclusion, and fairness in education.

Since 2009, CPE has offered accredited Wesleyan courses to students at Cheshire Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison for men. Wesleyan faculty teach courses ranging from English to biology to philosophy, and which have the same rigor and expectations as courses on Wesleyan’s Middletown campus. About 50 Wesleyan students volunteer in the program each semester, working in study halls at the prison or on campus, filling research requests and serving as project assistants.

The program was expanded to serve incarcerated students at York Correctional Institution in spring 2013. CPE held its first graduation ceremony for incarcerated students in August 2018.

Learn more about the Center for Prison Education here.