Goucher Prison Education Partnership celebrates first Commencement for women

While fewer than 1% of incarcerated individuals are estimated to be enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs across the United States, the Goucher Prison Education Partnership (GPEP) celebrated a distinguished milestone this May. GPEP celebrated its first Commencement ceremony inside the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services’ Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW).

One of those graduates was Janet Johnson ’23. “My Goucher degree opens a door to so many career possibilities. I am proud to be part of so many GPEP firsts: first cohort of women to walk at graduation inside, to complete a senior thesis, to serve in a fellowship inside the prison.”

The event also marked the first-ever bachelor’s degree ceremony to take place inside the Maryland women’s prison, and students, faculty, friends, and family gathered with members of the GPEP community for the celebration. The two Goucher College women graduates each completed their entire bachelor’s degree inside the prison.

Johnson is the first GPEP student at MCIW to complete a senior thesis. Titled “Emerging Adulthood,” her thesis examines the definition of adulthood in the United States from a social, legal, and psychological perspective. It examines the U.S. legal system’s use of an 18-year-old threshold, often leading to drastically different sentencing and ignoring the science of a more gradual emerging adulthood. It concludes by examining the policy changes that would result from a more expansive, consistent, and science-based definition of adulthood.

Professor Ann Duncan, Johnson’s senior thesis advisor and the new executive director of GPEP, said of Johnson’s work, “It was an exceptional project. Not only did she complete graduate-level research and give a professional presentation of that work, but she demonstrated the value of knowing the cultural, historical, and, in this case, scientific roots of our current policies as a first step to enacting change.”

Johnson also graduated with honors in the major, served as a peer tutor, and was recognized with the annual Mazer Family Fund student award, which honors students who exhibit an entrepreneurial spirit with out-of-the-box thinking. She is also currently serving in the first Goucher fellowship at MCIW.

During the Commencement ceremony, Assistant Professor Citlali Miranda-Aldaco said to Johnson, “You are a born leader. An example to follow and [you] have set the expectations of those to come. You embody the values of Goucher of respect, responsibility, and inclusion.”

Since 2012, GPEP has been a national leader in providing an excellent in-person education to students incarcerated in Maryland. Rooted in Goucher College’s mission of access, equity, and social justice in higher education, GPEP enrolls approximately 130 students each year in two Maryland prisons, MCIW and the Maryland Correctional Institution–Jessup (MCIJ) for men. These Goucher students enroll in the same classes and curriculum taught on the main Towson campus and develop as scholars and leaders with their peers.

This year, GPEP celebrated the Goucher College graduation of six students, including those in the men’s and women’s prisons and two formerly incarcerated students on Goucher’s main campus.

“I can accomplish so much more now,” says Johnson. “This helped me feel my self-worth, to realize that I am not the mistakes of my past. I don’t have to let prison define me, don’t have to be mentally incarcerated. I can prepare for my future by taking advantage of every resource available to me. I can use my voice.”

 

For more information on how to support the Goucher Prison Education Partnership, visit goucher.edu/gpep.