Resources
NDPEP Resources
Notre Dame Programs for Education in Prison (NDPEP) is a University initiative that works with higher education partners to provide a world-class liberal arts education to eligible incarcerated people in Indiana. It also seeks to expand, deepen, and evaluate the transformative impacts of prison education efforts, provide career development and other re-entry support for students, and create avenues for faculty research on incarceration.
Indiana Reentry Guide
Indiana Reentry Guide for Returning Citizens (2025) is published by the Institute for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame as part the work of Notre Dame Programs for Education in Prison. The creation of this reentry guide would not have been possible without the efforts of the Education Justice Project (EJP). This reentry guide is based on the EJP publication Mapping Your Future: A Guide to Successful Re-Entry. EJP also publishes a guide for people facing deportation to Mexico and Central America entitled A New Path: A Guide to the Challenges and Opportunities After Deportation. These resources are available from the Education Justice Project. View or download the 294-page guide below.
Key Performance Indicator Framework
Supporting Success: The Higher Education in Prison Key Performance Indicator Framework (Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2020) is designed to help Higher Education in Prison (HEP) programs measure the impact they have on students, institutions, facilities, and communities by including indicators that help measure student success outcomes, academic quality, civic engagement, and soft skill development. This framework applies to programs of all types and structures, from in-person degree programs to distance-learning credit programs, and enables HEP practitioners across different institutional sectors to take stock of their role in the rehabilitation and restoration of students’ educational opportunities in correctional facilities across the United States. This report concludes with a set of policy and practice recommendations for HEP practitioners, correctional administrators, and state and federal policymakers to improve access to quality HEP for incarcerated populations. Read more and download.
Starting a Postsecondary Education Program in Prison
First Class: Starting a Postsecondary Education Program in Prison (Vera Institute of Justice, 2020) is a guide for starting a postsecondary program a prison facility, including guiding principles for postsecondary education programs in prison; forming an implementation team; setting up a satellite campus and designing the program; establishing a partnership using a memorandum of understanding; determining funding, financial aid, and budgets; recruiting and training college personnel; creating an academic calendar; recruiting, enrolling, and registering students; creating a learning environment, and planning for emergencies. Read more and download.
Second Chance Pell
Second Chance Pell: Five Years of Expanding Higher Education Programs in Prisons, 2016–2021 (Vera Institute of Justice, 2022) summarizes the reach of Second Chance Pell programs in the fifth year of the initiative using survey data collected from 64 of the participating colleges. Forty-eight colleges did not enroll Second Chance Pell students during the 2020–2021 financial aid year because of either pandemic-related restrictions that closed their programs or delays in initiating their programs. Eighteen colleges did not respond. Read and download the report.