(Springfield, IL) – The Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) is now accepting applications for a new cohort of students for the 2022-2023 academic year. IDOC partners with NPEP, a degree-granting initiative of Northwestern University, and Oakton Community College to provide a high-quality liberal arts education to individuals in custody at Stateville Correctional Center. Northwestern is the only top-ten university in the country to confer its own bachelor's degrees to students in a prison education program. NPEP will expand to include the third cohort of students at Stateville Correctional Center with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

This academic year is the first time NPEP will consider applications from eligible candidates in IDOC facilities across the state of Illinois. This new opportunity supports the Department’s Incentive Based Corrections model, which provides programming opportunities to more individuals based on their individual case plan. To participate in the program, all accepted students will need to transfer to Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, IL, which is now a multi-security facility. Each NPEP cohort is limited to 20 students. Prospective students should return their completed application to the Education Facility Administrator at their current facility by August 15, 2022. More information about eligibility requirements and application materials are available.

“While research demonstrates prison education programs are a proven strategy to reduce recidivism, justice-impacted individuals are still excluded from higher education too often,” said Director Rob Jeffreys, Illinois Department of Corrections. “We are proud to continue our partnership with Northwestern as they expand this transformative program to include another cohort of students and open the opportunity to individuals in facilities across the state for the first time.”

“Education has a unique power to transform people’s lives for the better, and I am delighted that Northwestern is a national leader in bringing the highest-quality educational opportunities to incarcerated men and women in Illinois,” said Director Jennifer Lackey, Northwestern Prison Education Program.

All NPEP courses are credit-bearing and taught by faculty members at Northwestern and Oakton and by advanced graduate students at Northwestern with content and expectation equivalent to those on the Chicago, Des Plaines, Evanston, and Skokie campuses. NPEP offers an Associate of General Studies degree conferred by Oakton Community College. Upon completion of this degree, students are eligible to apply to Northwestern University for a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in social sciences from Northwestern’s School of Professional Studies.