For every person enrolled in higher education at Illinois prisons, someone else is waiting for their turn, according to new state data that reveals a system where access to college depends largely on where someone is incarcerated.
Right now, roughly 2,000 people in Illinois prisons are participating in higher education programs, according to a report released at the beginning of September. That’s about 1 out of every 15 people incarcerated in the state. At the same time, though, another 2,000 are stuck on waiting lists to get into classes because there’s not enough programming available.
Another 700 people on supervised release — Illinois’ version of parole — are also enrolled in higher education, per the report. Those numbers include enrollment in both college classes, and career and technical education.
People in Illinois prisons have been on waiting lists an average of 1.3 years, according to an analysis by Open Campus. Rebecca Ginsburg, director of the Education Justice Project at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said the data about how and where incarcerated students are being served allows colleges and the Illinois Department of Corrections to make informed decisions about higher education in Illinois prisons.
“The fact that around 2,000 individuals are on waitlists — almost the same number as are actually enrolled — suggests that we need to greatly scale up [higher education in prison] in Illinois,” Ginsburg said.
Research shows that participating in prison education helps people find employment after release and helps keep them from going back to prison. In Illinois, some people who complete educational programs can also earn time off their sentences, allowing them to be released earlier.
That means lots of people locked up in Illinois want to get into higher education programs, but they routinely complain about long waitlists, or that programs simply aren’t available at many prisons.
“Some of the things that hold programs back from sustainable growth include access to classroom space inside prisons and funding,” Ginsburg said.
How long’s the wait? Depends on geography
The data show waitlists vary wildly across Illinois, depending on the prison. The longest waits in the system are at Logan Correctional Center, the state’s main women’s prison, where people have been on an education waitlist for an average of almost five years. The longest wait at a men’s facility is at Danville Correctional Center, where people have been on waitlists an average of 4.2 years.
The system generally prioritizes educating people who are the closest to being released, but this leaves some behind for decades.
At Big Muddy River Correctional Center, one person has been on a waitlist since 2006 — nearly 19 years — and many others have been waiting more than five years. At Logan, at least seven women have been on the waitlist since 2013. Most of those with the longest waits are serving life or other long sentences.
IDOC spokesperson Naomi Puzzello acknowledged the geographic disparities, saying the department is “optimistic” about expanding education with current and potential education partners, particularly in central and southern Illinois, where the need is greatest.
Many of the longest wait times are at the facilities that offer the most educational opportunities. Logan, for instance, is the only Illinois women’s prison that offers significant higher education opportunities, including a bachelor’s program from Northwestern University and a master’s program from North Park University.
Danville offers classes from the U of I, as well as associate’s and bachelor’s degrees. At Sheridan prison, the waitlist has grown significantly in the last few years with the facility absorbing Northwestern’s bachelor’s program when Stateville Correctional Center shut down in 2024. It’s also home to other programs, such as Lewis University.
Some facilities have very short waitlists — not because they efficiently serve students, but because they offer very few educational opportunities. Menard Correctional Center, the state’s largest maximum security men’s prison, has just eight people enrolled in higher education and eight people on the waitlist. The facility, located in far southwestern Illinois, offers only two training programs — building maintenance and small engines — but no college classes, according to the IDOC website.
Pontiac Correctional Center, a men’s maximum security facility housing almost 500 people, shows no waitlist because it offers only basic education and high school equivalency programs — no college classes, according to the IDOC website.
Waitlist time down for high school-level courses
The statewide enrollment figures may appear to overstate the scope of prison-based higher education. Around 700 people — or a quarter of those the IDOC reported as being enrolled in higher education — are on supervised release. That means they are enrolled in outside institutions, not participating in prison-based classes.
The waitlists extend beyond higher education to basic literacy and high school programs. Nearly 12,000 people participated in adult basic education and high school equivalency programs, with over 5,000 more waiting for access. The report doesn’t break down these waitlists by facility, but data on educational spending shows disparities across institutions.
Puzzello said that wait times are down significantly for students earning their high school equivalency within IDOC.
“With increased education staffing across facilities, more students are enrolling in and completing programs, including successfully meeting testing requirements for credentialing,” Puzzello wrote in an email to WBEZ.
The data comes from a first-of-its-kind report on prison higher education published at the beginning of September. In 2023, Illinois lawmakers passed legislation requiring IDOC to annually publish detailed data about enrollment, waitlists, and spending on educational programs.
Charlotte West is a reporter covering the intersection of higher education and criminal justice for Open Campus, a nonprofit newsroom focused on higher education. Sign up for her newsletter, College Inside. Scott Smallwood, Open Campus’ co-founder and CEO, contributed to the data analysis in this story.