MGCCC to expand prison education programs with grant

The American Library Association has gifted 10 thousand dollars to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s Willis H. Lott Learning Resource Center to help educate those incarcerated at George County Regional Correctional Facility.

The college library will handpick resources for these inmates that will help them have a successful career after they’re released.

“The grant will fund laptops and also books to build their in-house library at the facility,” said Shugana Williams, librarian at the Perkinston campus. “So, the types of books that we are going to purchase are like career and job prep resources, and also supplemental academic resources that can help them with their studies while they’re enrolled at the college.”

This grant will help grow MGCCC-established programs for inmates to get their high school equivalency and earn an associate degree in technical careers, writing, and more.

Heather Holliman, dean of teaching and learning at Perkinston, explains why prison education is so vital to MGCCC’s mission.

“Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College has a commitment to serve our Gulf Coast,” Holliman said. “We realize there is a need to help with preventing or decreasing inmates from returning to correctional facilities. So, by offering these services we’re able to decrease those chances and help them reach their goals.”

The Mississippi Department of Corrections has found that inmates who participate in prison education programs are nearly 50% less likely to re-offend.

Eric Richard, programs and GED director at George County Regional Correctional Facility, says these programs give inmates hope that they can succeed in the world.

“That one word. It means a lot. Hope. Hope that they can get out, get connected, get a job and find employment, and the statistics show greater now that they’re able to do that,” Eric Richard said. “It builds confidence in them. They realize that they can do something.”