The Princeton astrophysicists were responding to a national crisis in prison education. Ever since felons had been excluded from Pell Grants in the 1990s, higher education in prisons had virtually ground to a halt. Volunteers at many universities – including UC Berkeley, Cornell, and Bard – were stepping in to fill the void. The Princeton volunteers joined a small group of educators from colleges around New Jersey who were working to offer incarcerated men and women a chance at secondary education.

In 2006, Mark Krumholz and his team taught their first class at Garden State Youth Correctional Facility to nine students. It was called "Intermediate Algebra with Applications" and was accredited by Mercer County Community College. The next year, Mark and other Princeton scientists started teaching at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. In 2008, PTI began teaching English composition courses through a team from the Woodrow Wilson school. In 2008 faculty and graduate students from Princeton humanities departments joined the effort, led by Andrew Nurkin and later Ross Lerner. Soon PTI was offering courses in math, science, composition and literature. PTI and its partner Mercer began working with The College of New Jersey and Rutgers University to expand course offerings.

 

Since then, PTI has developed rich programs in math, science, social sciences and humanities. Nearly 700 students have passed through our classes in five different prisons. We regularly enroll between 200 and 300 students per semester. The courses we offer include introductory and advanced English, multiple levels of algebra, as well as courses in Arabic, astronomy, biology, ecology, classics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, statistics and world literature. The program has involved hundreds of Princeton affiliates and community members, including faculty, postdocs, graduate students, librarians and staff, as well as teachers and scholars from around New Jersey.

In 2013, the Princeton Prison Teaching Initiative became a founding member of the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP) Consortium. This unprecedented coalition brings together prison teachers from institutions of higher education throughout New Jersey to create a comprehensive, statewide prison education network. Under NJ-STEP, PTI has partnered with community colleges, Rutgers, other private universities and the New Jersey Department of Corrections in the effort to provide prison education to all who need it.

In the fall of 2014 PTI participated in the first-ever college graduation in a New Jersey prison when fourteen students at Edna Mahan Women’s Correctional Facility received Associate’s Degrees from Raritan Valley Community College. In the spring of 2015 another eight students received Associate’s Degrees at Garden State Youth Correctional Facility. More than a dozen more students have graduated in the 2015-2016 school year. PTI students have gone on to enroll in colleges throughout the state and a number of PTI’s former students have joined the Mountainview Program at Rutgers University, which helps formerly incarcerated students pursue a Bachelor’s Degree and beyond. Many students from the Mountainview Program have graduated Rutgers with high distinction; two have won prestigious Truman Scholarships.

 

After many fruitful years of affiliation with Princeton’s Pace Center for Civic Engagement, PTI is now a part of the university’s Program in Teacher Preparation, an organization within the College with a mission to prepare future teachers and advance education throughout the State of New Jersey. PTI is administered by a Program Coordinator  working in tandem with the Director of Teacher Preparation and a Leadership Committee made up of faculty representing humanities, math, and science. Many dozens of volunteers continue to teach every semester, upholding PTI’s commitment to Princeton University’s motto: “in the nation’s service, and in the service of all nations.”