RICHMOND, Va. – A new report from Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) finds that correctional education programs, such as postsecondary programs offered by community colleges, lead to better employment and wage outcomes for formerly incarcerated individuals. 

The Virginia Consensus for Higher Education in Prison, a program of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, participated in the study and reviewed the report’s findings for opportunities to expand and strengthen postsecondary programs. 

Fourteen of Virginia’s 37 prisons offer post-secondary courses through partnerships with local community colleges and two four-year universities.  

Incarcerated students in prison higher education programs commonly utilize Pell grants, a federal student aid program for any Americans with lower incomes—whether attending on traditional college campuses or enrolled from behind bars. The maximum Pell Grant award for undergraduates is $7,395 for the 2025-26 school year.  

The JLARC report found that while 67% of incarcerated individuals have a verified high school diploma or equivalent and would academically qualify for college, only 2% of the prison population is enrolled in postsecondary programs. The gap is a significant opportunity to connect more incarcerated Virginians to college enrollment, according to the Virginia Consensus. As of February 2025, there were approximately 22,700 people serving time in one of DOC’s major correctional facilities—of them, about 15,200 qualify for community college enrollment.  

All of the Virginia Department of Corrections’ educational programs – which include adult basic education, career and technical education and postsecondary programming – have significant waitlists. The report highlights how addressing security and teacher vacancies, IT maintenance and budgeting would improve access and effectiveness of programs.  

The JLARC study documented multiple facilities offering postsecondary programs that noted staffing shortages. Remarkably, some dedicated principals at the facilities have been volunteering to work security to enable postsecondary programs to run on schedule.  

Meanwhile, VDOC teachers and principals reported problems with internet access, IT support and software reliability. VDOC’s leadership cited plans to improve the network speeds in classrooms and increase instructor access to the internet.  

JLARC recommended a more robust central office role for VDOC to support statewide postsecondary programming. Correctional officer vacancy rates range from 0-64% across facilities. As of July 2025, DOC had 1,543 correctional officer position vacancies. 

“The latest report gives us a roadmap to improving Virginia’s prison education programs and identifies remedies for increasing college access to support justice-impacted individuals—which in turn benefits public safety, strengthens families in our communities, ensures workforce robustness, and boosts the state’s overall economy,” said Terri Erwin, Virginia Consensus director. “We know that quality education programs lead to better and more meaningful employment opportunities. And when formerly incarcerated people are connected to quality job pathways, it helps them achieve socioeconomic mobility and increases their capacity to support their families and contribute to their communities.”  

The Virginia Consensus membership includes the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, VDOC, the Virginia Community College System, Virginia Works, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, Resilience Education, and roughly 150 colleges, businesses, nonprofits, and individual Virginians in support of expanding college access behind bars.  

The Virginia Consensus is also engaging with the business community to highlight the benefits of hiring formerly incarcerated individuals, often referred to as “second-chance employment.” 

According to state data, about 10,000 people enter the Virginia labor market from VDOC every year, having met the judicial conditions for their freedom. A Prison Policy Initiative analysis estimates that 27% of formerly incarcerated people are unemployed due to a variety of historically unchallenged exclusionary policies and practices. This is changing nationally, however, as key employers, industries and governmental leaders realize the benefits of reducing systemic barriers to maximize labor market participation.  

Virginia Consensus points to increasing access to college degree programs in prison as an important tool for strategically preparing individuals returning from incarceration to expand options for higher-skilled roles in companies offering benefits and employee development opportunities.  

To the benefit of employers, research shows that second-chance hires are more committed employees, with lower turnover, better work attendance and superior job loyalty, as compared to peers without justice-system involvement.   

For more information, visit www.vchep.org.  

###