ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to redefine the narrative surrounding higher education in prison. It focuses on merely treating symptoms to curing an illness. Prison education should be geared towards the full development of students. It must acknowledge the larger environment from which students come and equip them with the ability to do for themselves what society is not prepared to do. Higher education in prison should therefore be a political act, responsive to the economy and social conditions. It should incorporate a vision or overall plan for society, still to be realized in the future. Educators need to submerge themselves in the contexts of the students’ life experiences, primarily to be able to listen while encouraging students to unveil and un-package their lives and problems. Higher education can have a “liberating” effect on society. The individuals are not putting such a burden on society’s institutions.
