APR Reports: Rewriting the Sentence: College Behind Bars

Airs Sunday, October 2, at 6 p.m. Today, more than two million Americans are incarcerated. But every year about 700,000 prisoners return to society. About half of those released will be back behind bars within three years. One of the best, most cost-effective ways to reduce recidivism is to provide education to inmates. In this documentary, we follow a class of imprisoned students trying to make their way through their first semester, from orientation through final exams. And we visit a women’s facility where a group of inmates has been publishing research that’s changing historians’ understanding of the history of prisons.