Prison University Project

The Prison University Project (PUP) addresses the critical need for education for California’s incarcerated population, while also confronting the challenge of altering the deeply hostile attitudes towards people who are incarcerated that permeate the dominant culture of the US. Within San Quentin’s prison, PUP provides rigorous, high quality education programs on a first-come, first-serve basis for any person incarcerated at the prison who is classified as eligible to participate in programs and who holds a high school diploma or GED. This project provides students/clients with the intellectual skills, professional knowledge, social networks, self-confidence, resilience, and hope that are needed to build successful professional lives. These changes create a more supportive environment for students’ children, who become more likely to succeed academically, and less likely to become entangled in the criminal justice system.