Calvin College Offers Bachelor's Degrees to Inmates

Calvin College recently received accreditation for its Calvin Prison Initiative, an endeavor that each year will offer 20 inmates from the state of Michigan an opportunity to pursue a bachelor of arts degree in ministry leadership.

The students take classes in ministry and theology as well as Calvin’s liberal arts core courses. Inmates from any of the 31 prisons in the Michigan Department of Corrections system can apply to the program, and each August admitted students are transferred to Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia to begin their Calvin education.

“We live in an environment of low expectations. This program has high expectations. It demands more of us than the system does, so that’s liberating,” said David, a student in the program.

“When you are denied something for so long that you desire so badly, when an opportunity like this comes along, it’s difficult to overestimate how important something like this is.”

David is a part of the first cohort of students who began this past September taking classes through Calvin. He’s hoping to be a Calvin College alumnus in 2020.

Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary leaders are hoping these efforts will contribute to reforming the corrections system in Michigan.

Dave Rylarsdaam, a professor of historical theology at Calvin Theological Seminary, wrote the proposal for what it would take for Calvin to offer a full bachelor of arts degree in ministry leadership to inmates. He says that transforming prison culture is not a pipe dream. “It’s been [done before], so we’re hopeful it can happen in Michigan.”

Rylarsdaam says multiple studies, including one by the RAND Corporation, have recently shown that “education of any sort in prison will lower recidivism rates by 43 percent. And, the higher the degree, the more dramatic recidivism is affected.”

He says the recidivism rates for inmates who have gone through the best college prison initiatives in the country, such as those offered through Bard College and New York Theological Seminary, are essentially zero.

DeWayne Burton, who recently was named warden at Handlon Correctional Facility, is behind the effort to bring more vocational training into his prison. While he says it takes 3-5 years for culture change to take place, he is already seeing some fruit from these efforts.

“Only one ‘class 1’ ticket [ a violation ] has been written on a vocational trade prisoner since October,” said Burton. “It’s nearly a minor miracle. You can’t argue with the numbers.”

Calvin professors Todd Cioffi, who teaches congregational and ministry studies, and Christiana de Groot, who teaches religion, are co-directors of the Calvin Prison Initiative.

They see the potential this program can have in equipping leaders within the prison system to reform it from the inside and preparing those who will be released someday to flourish as productive members of society.

“We want them to know their Michigan Department of Corrections’ number is not what defines them,” said de Groot.

“They know they’re a child of God. That’s good news. We reinforce it saying you are now a member of this learning community—that’s meant hope to them. They are very grateful.”

Those faculty, staff, donors and students who have been instrumental in getting the program off the ground see this as part of the Christian calling, even though it’s something that has rarely been done to this extent.

Dozens of institutions offer courses to inmates, some providing the opportunity to get an associate’s degree, but very few offer a four-year accredited bachelor’s degree. And Cioffi says, “Calvin College is the first Christian college offering a full degree that we know of.”

“Working with the students at Handlon affords the college a unique opportunity to enact our Reformed vision beyond the immediate campus and to embody justice, compassion and hope as we equip students to be agents of renewal within the prison,” said Cheryl Brandsen, the college’s provost.

For more information on the background of the program and Calvin Theological Seminary’s role in getting it off the ground, see High Hopes for Handlon.