San Quentin State Prison in California is the site of an innovative program that provides prisoners the opportunity to take higher education courses while incarcerated. The program is staffed by volunteers and funded by donors. Visitors will find that the website for the Prison University Project (PUP) contains a great audio feature in the "Students" section of the "About Us" link about students and volunteers involved in the experience. The "Resources" link has a number of articles that explain to visitors the value of educating the prison population, including "Education Reduces Crime: Three-State Recidivism Study", "Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program", and "Back to School: A Guide to Continuing Your Education After Prison". The "Guest Lectures and Presentations" link has full-length audio recordings of lectures presented at San Quentin. Some of the excellent lectures that visitors can listen to include "Sentencing law and policy (or lack of it) in California: a view from inside the sausage factory" and "The Changing Scale of Imprisonment in the US: Why Populations Can't Be Expected to Drop As Much As They Have Increased".
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