A biweekly newsletter about education and employment during and after incarceration. Written by Open Campus national reporter Charlotte West.

‘No Good Time For You’

More than 2 million people are currently incarcerated in the United States. Nearly every state now has some form of time credit program, often called “earned time,” that allows people to reduce their sentences through education, work, or good behavior. Since 2020, 27 states have expanded these laws.

But a new study examining time credit policies in 11 jurisdictions, including the federal Bureau of Prisons, found that outdated technology and fragmented recordkeeping systems routinely prevent incarcerated people from accessing credits they’ve legally earned — sometimes keeping people locked up longer than they were supposed to be.

At least 370 lawsuits have been filed in the past decade — 70 against state agencies and over 300 in federal court — alleging failures in tracking time credits. Incarcerated individuals won about one-third of the state cases.

The findings arrive at a critical moment: states have expanded credit-earning opportunities faster than they’ve modernized the systems needed to run them. The result, the report shows, is a growing gap between what the law promises and what people inside actually receive.

“What we found is that implementation — not intent — is the barrier,” Jessica Hicklin, founder and co-executive director of educational technology nonprofit Unlocked Labs, told Open Campus. “Outdated data systems, inconsistent credit calculations, and fragmented program tracking have turned a promising evidence-based reform into a patchwork of inequity and missed opportunity.”

The findings draw from 34 interviews with correctional professionals and formerly incarcerated individuals conducted in 2025. Unlocked Labs conducted the study in partnership with Arizona State University with support from Arnold Ventures. 

In many systems, the technology to solve these problems already exists but is underutilized. Tablets have been distributed across facilities but are rarely used for tracking credits or providing access to records.

Participants called for integrated digital systems, automated credit calculations, full use of tablets for transparency, and clearer policies.

The report concludes that “reforming the laws is not enough. Effective time credit policies require the operational tools and digital infrastructure to ensure accountability, consistency, and fairness.”

Hicklin, the Unlocked founder, said the fixes are within reach. “This is fundamentally an infrastructure problem, and infrastructure problems have solutions,” she said. “States can build transparent, automated, and reliable systems that ensure earned progress leads to earned release.”

Read the full story here.

An inside look at college in Indiana Women’s Prison 

Amy Hockett had been through it before. A college program would arrive at Indiana Women’s Prison with big promises — degrees, a path forward, a chance to transform her life. 

She’d enroll, start classes, get through a semester. Then the program would disappear.

It happened again. And again. By the time Marian University showed up in 2019 with its liberal arts program, Hockett wasn’t buying it. She’d already earned her GED during her lengthy sentence and worked through self-help programs to “become a better person.” She’d heard the college pitch before. 

“We had so many college programs here that started and failed,” she said. “A lot of us are like, ‘yeah, I’m not going to waste my time for a semester.’”

But Marian stuck around. And now, in her fourth year, Hockett is graduating with her bachelor’s degree this fall — one of around 50 women who’ve earned associate or bachelor’s degrees from the program since it launched. 

The Women’s College Partnership, run by Marian in collaboration with the Bard Prison Initiative, represents a rare opportunity in Indiana. It’s a chance for incarcerated women to earn a liberal arts degree, the kind of education that asks students to read deeply, think critically, and engage with big ideas.

Read the full story by Charlotte West and Claire Rafford published in collaboration with our local partner in Indianapolis, Mirror Indy.

Related: “Reviving women’s stories and critiquing the carceral state” 

News & Views

This section is written by Charlotte West and Vee Santoscoy, an Open Campus editorial assistant supported by the Humanities Institute at the University of California Santa Crus.

About one in four people incarcerated in Virginia are waiting to access prison education programs due to limited capacity, staffing shortages, technology and infrastructure, as well as inconsistent programming, according to a November story published by the Virginia Mercury. As of February 2025, around 5,700 individuals were on waiting lists for educational programs, highlighting the demand that far surpasses the state correction department’s capacity, according to a legislative report prepared at the request of state lawmakers. As Open Campus has previously reported, other states such as Illinois are now starting to track the amount of time that someone is on a wait list before they are able to access education. 

An Ohio prison safety bill sparked by the murder of a correctional officer has passed the state House 82-3—but buried in the legislation is a provision that would eliminate all college programs at high-security prisons, the Dayton Daily News reports. The proposed law would potentially affect around half of Sinclair Community College's 2,600 incarcerated students and also removes tablets for personal use at high-security facilities, which criminal justice scholar Jonathan Morgan says eliminates “the only realistic pathway to structured learning” for many in maximum security. None of the eight higher education institutions offering prison programs in Ohio—including Ohio-based Ashland University, one of the country's largest tablet-based education providers—publicly testified on the bill during the House committee. The bill now heads to the state Senate.

A new Colorado State Library study shows that prison libraries do far more than provide books—they improve mental health, strengthen social connections, and encourage positive behavior. Despite challenges like limited collections and staffing, incarcerated people consistently praised their libraries as rare safe spaces where they can connect with others, manage emotions, and build community. Researchers say strengthening prison library services can improve well-being behind bars and support successful reentry to families and communities. The project has also created a toolkit for other state library systems.

Let’s connect

Please connect if you have story ideas or just want to share your experience with prison education programs as a student or educator. You can always reach me at [email protected] or on Bluesky, LinkedIn, or Instagram. To reach me via snail mail, you can write to: Open Campus, 2460 17th Avenue #1015, Santa Cruz, CA 95062.

We know that not everyone has access to email, so if you’d like to have a print copy College Inside sent to an incarcerated friend or family member, you can sign them up here. We also publish the PDFs of our print newsletter on the Open Campus website.

There is no cost to subscribe to the print edition of College Inside. But as a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on grants and donations to keep bringing you the news about prison education. You can also donate here.

Interested in reaching people who care about higher education in prisons? Get in touch at [email protected] or request our media kit.

Share College Inside

Know others that are interested in higher ed in prisons? Let them know about the newsletter. Thanks!

You currently have 0 referrals, only 2 away from receiving a Twitter Shoutout.

Click to Share

Or copy and paste this link to others: https://college-inside.beehiiv.com/subscribe?ref=2p6y6raqDY

What did you think of this issue?

• 👍 Loved it!

• 👎 Not so much