Tennessee prison college program reboots with online classes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A program that offers college classes inside two Tennessee prisons is getting an online reboot.
Lipscomb University’s LIFE program has offered classes for college credit inside Tennessee’s women’s prison, known as the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, and the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution for years.
Those classes stopped in March when the pandemic hit. Students had to finish classes by correspondence and there were no summer classes for the first time since 2007, according to a statement from the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Classes resumed this week through online learning with 65 students from the two prisons. Undergraduate students are taking introduction to communication; spiritual disciplines for Christian living; society and the law; history of the 21st century; and the Gospel of John. Graduate students are taking a class called apology, forgiveness and reconciliation.