Starting this fall, people incarcerated at two prisons in the Mississippi Delta will get the opportunity to work toward a 4-year-degree through a new Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU) program.

The initiative has been dubbed the Prison Educational Partnership Program (PEPP), and it’s associated with the Second Chance Pell Experiment —  an initiative Barack Obama launched back in 2015 that aims to “encourage participation in college and other postsecondary education” among people who are behind bars, according to Investopedia.

The Itta Bena, Mississippi, college’s PEPP initiative brings the Magnolia State’s total number of prison college programs up to seven, though MVSU is the first Mississippi HBCU on this list.

The institution has accepted about 50 people to participate in the program’s inaugural semester classes at Bolivar County Correctional Facility and the Delta Correctional Facility.

According to Mississippi Today, MVSU Provost Kathie Stromile Golden spoke on how PEPP will be a game-changer.

“Many of the people who are incarcerated are parents and relatives of our students,” Stromile Golden said. “It’s in our best interest to do something like this because these are the very same people who will come back to our community.”

Rochelle McGee-Cobbs, a criminal justice professor who will serve as the director of PEPP, also spoke on the initiative.

“Here at Mississippi Valley State University, regardless of where a student is at when they come in, we try to make sure that we nourish them,” McGee-Cobbs said, per Mississippi Today. “We try to make sure that we cater to the needs of each student.”

MVSU faculty elected to participate in PEPP will receive training from Jamii Sisterhood, a nonprofit that “seeks to create a safe and innovative space for Black women in higher education in prison through expert professional development and community building.”

What do you think about MVSU’s initiative?

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