April 15, 2025
Bowie invited attendees to the inaugural HBCU Prison Education Summit to join the movement to build the prison-to-HBCU pipeline.
In an effort to build a prison-to-HBCU pipeline, Bowie State University last weekend hosted the nation’s first HBCU Prison Education Summit, bringing together educational leaders, criminal justice experts, and community advocates.
Summit leaders structured the three-day event under its inaugural theme, “Building A Prison-to-HBCU Pipeline.” According to the event’s webpage, the summit called on HBCUs to involve their team of administrators, faculty, staff, policymakers, funders, community partners, and reentry advocates in the movement to establish a network that provides incarcerated and formally incarcerated with opportunities for higher education, reentry services, and personal and professional development.
Attendees were immersed with expert knowledge and resources for building prison education programs. “By building this network, we aim to empower HBCUs to better serve our community through prison education, to advance racial equity for Black people, to use access to higher education to create pathways for upward mobility, reduce recidivism, and break the cycle of incarceration,” the summit’s mission statement read. “Our mantra is, educate to liberate and vow to transform (ELVT) the lives of our people and thus all people.”
This year’s summit objectives included building partnerships and collaborative conversations through constructive discussions among educators, advocates, community organizations, policymakers, and stakeholders; sharing resources, best practices, research findings, and innovative approaches to leverage collective expertise and stay updated on the latest developments; and fostering social justice and empowering change agents. Due to systemic inequalities, Black men and women are disproportionately incarcerated in the United States. In March, a report by the Prison Policy Initiative revealed that 37% of people in prison or jail are Black. Researchers have found that access to education improves life chances and social and economic mobility.
Bowie State’s Criminal Justice Department Chair and Executive Director of the Prison Education Program, Dr. Charles Adams, told WBAL that the institution is one of four in Maryland to offer prison education. “We know as we shift from mass incarceration with finding ways to deal with returning citizens, we have to provide resources, and one of the main resources is education,” he said. In a press release, Adams revealed that the institution is in the third year of its Second Chance Pell Grant program, launched in 2022, to advance prison education. “HBCUs cannot do this alone. By coming together, we strengthen our impact and increase our ability to secure resources to meet incarcerated citizens where they are and better prepare them for potential jobs when they are released back into the community,” said Adams.Â
Over 200 guests from HBCUs, the criminal justice system, and other organizations gathered in Bowie, Maryland, to attend the inaugural HBCU Prison Education Summit. The university plans to host the summit again next year.
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