More than two million Americans are incarcerated. Most people who enter prison eventually come out. Some 7-hundred-thousand prisoners return to society yearly . . . about half of those will be back behind bars within three years. One of the best, most cost-effective ways to reduce recidivism is to provide education to inmates. This documentary explores the history of prison educational programs, examines their effect on incarcerated individuals and on society, and asks why they are not more widespread. We follow a class of imprisoned students from orientation through final exams. And we visit a women’s facility where a group of inmates, led by a former prison guard-turned-professor, have been publishing a body of research that’s changing historians’ understanding of the history of prisons.
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