Illinois was home to some of the nation’s earliest college-in-prison opportunities, starting in the 1950s. Tragically, the state was also at the forefront of taking away college access. In 1987 Illinois lawmakers made people in prison ineligible for state financial aid, including the need-based Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants. This relic of the tough-on-crime era foreshadowed the infamous 1994 crime bill that took away Pell Grant eligibility and decimated college-in-prison nationally seven years later.

When Pell access was restored in a bipartisan effort in 2020, many other states restored state-level aid, Illinois is now behind the curve, with a 37-year-old ban and an underdeveloped landscape of college access for incarcerated students.

We can no longer justify excluding marginalized communities most impacted by cycles of mass incarceration from access to higher education. Lifting the ban on MAP for people in prison is a simple, easy, and uncontroversial step to advance educational equity, defend democracy, and strengthen communities.