Higher Education in Prison (HEP) in Georgia

Click on any of the names or logos below to learn more about programs that provide higher education to people in prison in GA or that otherwise support justice-impacted people in Georgia.

Each of the programs listed below is committed...

...to education as a human right;

...to supporting each other, HEP program students, and HEP program alumni;

...and to providing high-quality instruction.

If you work at a college, University, or nonprofit and are interested in partnering with GACHEP to support students in and after prison, please contact us at info@gachep.org.

Central Georgia Technical College, Office of Reentry Services

Central Georgia Technical College services eleven counties in central Georgia, providing credit instruction, non-credit GED/ESL instruction, and customized business and industry training. Central Georgia Technical College has established a Office of Reentry Services to successfully reintegrate people released from prison into communities, reduce prison recidivism, and positively impact Georgia’s economy by addressing the educational and employability training needs of Georgia’s incarcerated citizens. The Office of Re-entry Services offers Technical Certificates of Credit (TCC) in 13 facilities as well as OJT opportunities across the state of Georgia.

The Prison Education Project

The Georgia State University Prison Education Project (GSUPEP) works to bring higher education into prisons, to facilitate education for those who have been incarcerated, and to educate our on-campus students about issues of mass incarceration. GSUPEP offers Associate Degree programs at Phillips State Prison, in cooperation with Common Good Atlanta, and at Walker State Prison. GSUPEP also provides for-credit classes at Whitworth Women’s Facility in cooperation with Reforming Arts and enrichment classes at the Atlanta Youth Development Center, the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta, Hancock State Prison, and the Atlanta Transitional Center.

The Chillon Project

The Chillon Project is an initiative of Life University's Center for Compassion, Integrity, and Secular Ethics to provide Associate and Bachelor degree programs to people in prison, formerly incarcerated people, and correctional staff in Georgia. Since 2016, Life University has offered an Associate of Arts in Positive Human Development and Social Change and now offers a Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Arrendale State Prison for Women.

RestoreHER

RestoreHER US.America in partnership with the Spelman College Social Justice Program have created “UNLOCKED MINDS”, a dual certificate program at Whitworth Women’s Facility that provides a book club and wellness program with plans to incorporate college credit courses to justice-involved women throughout GDC.

AYCGL Prison Education Initiative

The AYCGL Prison Education Initiative provides support to Morehouse College faculty who teach humanities courses to incarcerated men and women in Georgia prisons. The AYCGL provides participating faculty—i.e., Prison Education Faculty Teaching Affiliates—with a stipend, training, and textbook allowance. Morehouse faculty presently teach humanities classes at Burruss Prison, an hour south of Morehouse, METRO Correctional, half an hour from Morehouse, and the Downtown Reentry Program, which is just two stations north of the AUC on MARTA.

Certificate in Theological Studies

A collaborative project of the Atlanta Theological Association (ATA) and Arrendale State Prison’s Chaplaincy Department, the Certificate in Theological Studies (CTS) is a yearlong program of theological education for incarcerated women, with classes designed and taught by graduate students and faculty from four ATA schools: Candler School of Theology, McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, the Interdenominational Theological Center and Columbia Theological Seminary.

The Philemon Fellowship

The Philemon Fellowship is a group of faculty who have been providing credit-bearing college classes leading to degree programs at Wheeler Correctional Facility and Johnson State Prison through Brewton Parker College, which was selected as a Second Chance Pell site in 2019.

Healthy Routines

Healthy Routines is dedicated to improving the lives of people from low-income communities, especially residents impacted by the criminal legal system. Our mission is to promote growth and development by exposing our clients to transformative educational content and environments. We do this by working collaboratively with a diverse range of stakeholders at the communal, institutional, and governmental levels to improve, design, and implement content and environments that our clients can use to enhance their quality of life.

Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network

FICGN promotes the education and empowerment of formerly incarcerated people through a collective community by strengthening social networks of formerly incarcerated people, creating spaces for formerly incarcerated people to share and discuss ideas, changing social perceptions of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, changing incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people’s views of themselves, promoting and supporting prison and post-prison education, demonstrating the value of our lived experience, and advocating for criminal justice policy change.

Inside-Out at Berry College

Berry College collaborates with Floyd County Prison (FCP) to offer an annual, for-credit class to men incarcerated at FCP. The class applies the The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program pedagogy, which brings together a balanced number of Inside (incarcerated) and Outside (Berry College) students who meet weekly at FCP. The semester-long course is structured to facilitate collaborative student interactions, critical thinking, and dialogue about complex social issues.

Inside-Out at UGA

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program is a course that brings together campus-based college students and incarcerated students. Typically, the course is comprised of 15 "inside" (incarcerated) students and 15 "outside" (non-incarcerated) students and meets in a correctional setting. Inside-Out at UGA is a partnership between the Department of Sociology and the Clarke County Sheriff's Office - Jail Section.