Our mission at PEI is to provide incarcerated women with rigorous and engaging educational experiences. We aim to encourage our students to recognize their own personal and academic potential.
The Prison Education Initiative was founded in 2004 by a group of friends and former colleagues with a shared concern about the declining resources for education in jails and prisons. Many of the founding members had previous experience teaching academic classes in prison settings through various university and professional programs in the Boston area, but could not find similar opportunities for volunteer work in New York City. As a result, we decided to reach out directly to local jails and prisons and request permission to teach a class or two in their facilities.
Officials at the Rose M. Singer Center at Rikers Island expressed a willingness to meet with us, but requested that we formalize our ideas into an organization with clear program goals—as a result, the Prison Education Initiative was born. Initially, PEI had 5 teachers and taught GED reading and math classes. Since then, over 25 individuals have taught with us, providing a variety of classes to incarcerated women.
