The bill would create an Office of Prison Education within the Bureau of Prisons and establish a program that partners federal prisons with qualified education providers. Programs could include literacy, high school, college, job training, and apprenticeships. The office would collect data, publish research and best practices, and help state prison systems improve education programs. The bill also directs outreach and education support for eligible incarcerated veterans.
People in federal prisons could have access to a wider range of education and job-training programs. Providers would have to give information about continuing education after release, transfer credits, financial aid, and employment limits. Eligible incarcerated veterans could receive information and help connecting to approved programs. Veterans with felony convictions could not receive certain housing or subsistence payments while incarcerated, and other payments for education costs would reduce the assistance available for those costs.
For fiscal years 2027 through 2033, $170 million of amounts appropriated to the Bureau of Prisons would be used for the education program. The federal share of a program's cost could not exceed 75 percent of its total cost.
The bill's stated purpose is to improve federal prison education and support successful community reentry. Its findings cite education as a way to improve employment prospects and prison safety and to reduce recidivism. No publicly available information on additional proponents' statements.
No publicly available information.