Prison Education Programs
PJI’s programs offer a Georgetown education to incarcerated students, turning carceral spaces into college classrooms. Through transformational liberal arts courses, incarcerated scholars expand their thinking, engage with their peers, challenge themselves academically, and build their self-confidence. Our prison education programs are taught in person by distinguished Georgetown faculty and welcome students of all genders into the classroom.
Access to higher education has long-lasting positive impact on people in prison, and earning a degree or college credits helps students prepare for their futures after release. Georgetown’s prison education programs, offered through the Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences, reach students in D.C. and Maryland.
“Education has changed the trajectory of my life … It has given me purpose as a human being.”
Halim Flowers, artist and former Prison Scholar
Prison Scholars at the D.C. Jail
The Prison Scholars Program at the D.C. Jail offers credit-bearing and non-credit classes year round, as well as a weekly lecture series with distinguished guest speakers. The program has reached over 200 students since its start in 2018.
Bachelor of Liberal Arts
The Bachelor of Liberal Arts program is an expansion of the Prison Scholars Program that offers a full bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University for incarcerated students in Maryland. The program launched in 2022 at the Patuxent Institution in Jessup, Maryland and is expected to enroll 125 students within five years. Graduates of the program will earn a Bachelor of Liberal Arts, granted by the Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences.
The bachelor’s degree curriculum is modeled after Georgetown’s on-campus undergraduate programs and brings the university’s academic caliber and rich history of liberal arts in the Jesuit tradition to incarcerated students. Learn more
Prison Education News
Blogs, News
Prison Scholars Celebrate Summer Semester Achievements
The Prison Scholars Program celebrated the completion of the summer 2025 semester at the D.C. Jail on Aug. 26. A Scholar poses with her journalism teacher, Professor Neil Roland. Following a…
September 17, 2025
Blogs, News
Prison Scholars Discuss Book by PJI Program Associate Tray Jones
Written by Julia Butler The Prison Scholars Program at the D.C. Jail welcomed Arlando “Tray” Jones III, program associate at the Prisons and Justice Initiative, on Aug. 12 as part of a weekly…
August 19, 2025
Blogs, News
Georgetown Pivot Program Celebrates 12 Graduates, Presents Inaugural Award
On June 12, the seventh cohort of the Georgetown Pivot Program celebrated their graduation following nine months of classroom instruction and hands-on internship experience. The ceremony honored…
June 26, 2025