#123 Education is Key to Not Going Back to Prison - James Monteiro, Re-Entry Campus Program

felony inc podcast

A middle school dropout, James Monteiro left his mother's house, moved in with a woman 10 years his senior and was "exposed to things no 15-year old should be exposed to". That experience set James up to spend the next 20 years or his life incarcerated up and down the east coast. Upon release, he only had his 8th grade education to fall back on and that led him back to prison, a repeating cycle. His last incarceration of 10 years made him think he never wanted to go back and he began working on getting a college degree. He got his associate degree, but a bachelor degree on his prison pay was out of reach. But he had people who believed in him and he was able to get the degree before release. However, as the Re-Entry Campus Program's website says, it's one thing to be locked up in prison, it's another to be locked OUT of society. So began Re-Entry Campus Program, to help other incarcerated souls achieve a college degree whether out of prison or still in. Nationwide, there are 90,000 incarcerated people taking college courses, but after release, there is no tracking of who is following through and finishing to get their degree. That's where Re-Entry is their safety net, helping them with financial aid, enrollment, proctoring exams and so forth. And so far, there has been little recruiting, almost everyone finds Re-Entry by word of mouth. Felony Inc Podcast with your hosts Dick Hennessy and Meg Thibodeaux We record the Felony Inc Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland. Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main Website was designed by Cameron Grimes Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster Felony Inc Podcast supports City Central Concern at centralcityconcern.org 10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes Listen to the Felony Inc Podcast every Friday at 10:00am pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com