Why It Pays to Invest in Prison Education

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11/22/2022Updated: 11/22/2022

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Commentary

Nearly 75 percent of individuals incarcerated in state prisons do not have a high school diploma. Only about 15 percent of incarcerated adults have a postsecondary degree, compared to about 45 percent of the general public. Most prisons offer some form of GED certificate or adult basic education courses, but that is simply not sufficient to ensure employability in today’s job market. In addition to broadening a student’s knowledge base, a robust education curriculum can make a person more employable and less likely to reoffend.

Tony Lowden

Author

Tony Lowden is vice president of reintegration and community engagement at ViaPath Technologies. Pastor Lowden serves the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains Ga., Former President Jimmie Carter selected Tony where he is a member. Lowden was appointed executive director of the Federal Interagency Council on Crime Prevention and Improving Reentry under the Trump administration. He was also appointed by Governor Nathan Deal in 2012 to the State Charter School Commission. After serving as project coordinator for the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, Lowden served as the Director of Faith and Justice Initiative for the Governor’s Office of Transition Support and Reentry. Reared in North Philadelphia in a single-parent home, Lowden understands the plight of poverty and illiteracy. He double majored in Economics and Government at the University of Southern California while on an athletic scholarship and earned his Master’s of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Lowden was founder and executive director of STONE Academy, an after-school enrichment program for at-risk children in the Macon-Bibb County area. He has served as pastor at Strong Tower Fellowship and youth pastor at Lundy Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Macon, youth director at Fellowship Bible Baptist Church in Warner Robins, and in other leadership capacities in numerous civic organizations in Middle Georgia. His community involvement has included the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development Board and the Board of Directors for the Center for Racial Understanding. He is a 2011 graduate of Leadership Georgia, a 2014 graduate of the inaugural class of the Bailey-Sullivan Leadership Institute of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) and a member of American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Leadership Network Fall 2016 class. Lowden and his wife, G. Pilar Lowden, an educator and performing artist, have one daughter, Tabitha Lowden.