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Recognizing human dignity behind bars: A moral justification for college-in-prison programs

There is currently bipartisan support for criminal justice reform in the United States. One reform, recently passed through the Consolidated Appropriations Act/COVID relief package (December 2020), restored need-based, higher educational aid for incarcerated persons. With a resurgence of college-in-prison programs on the horizon, this article joins recent efforts to understand the moral justification of these programs not exclusively in terms of reductions in recidivism rates but in terms of a duty-based recognition of human dignity. It contributes to these efforts by examining the meaning and implications of recognizing human dignity behind bars, contending that the achievements of college-in-prison programs are morally justified insofar as they provide a model for recognizing the human dignity of all incarcerated persons (not just the select few they educate) and thereby spur the transformation of an institution that systematically ignores the role of human dignity in our moral lives.