The 1994 crime bill stripped prison students of federal Pell grants

Evidence

Yet, when President Bill Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994, federal aid awards for students in jails and prisons were quickly withdrawn, thrusting prison education programs into hotly contested political issue, with arguments often anchored to the perception of the fundamental humanity, or lack thereof, of students in jails and prisons (Agrawal, 2018). To be sure, small and local initiatives have sought to restore funding for these programs, but when New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed funding four-year degrees for students in jails and prisons, state conservatives strongly resisted. Consider the position of New York State Senator Greg Ball who launched an online petition titled, “Hell No to Attica University,” arguing “in a world of finite resources, where we are struggling to find funding for education for our kids, the last thing New York State should be funding is college tuition for convicts” (Lennon, 2015, p. 9). — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 398

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The 1994 crime bill’s Pell Grant ban dismantled prison higher education.; The 1994 crime bill deliberately destroyed higher education in prisons — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 153; American prison higher education expanded then collapsed with federal Pell Grant policy shifts. — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 397

Broader Connections

• The 1994 crime bill’s Pell Grant ban dismantled prison higher education. #corroborates (1.00)
• The 1994 crime bill deliberately destroyed higher education in prisons #corroborates (0.90) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 153
• American prison higher education expanded then collapsed with federal Pell Grant policy shifts. #expands (0.80) — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 397