The 星空传媒 College Liberal Arts in Prison Program offers credit-bearing courses to incarcerated students at the West Tennessee State Penitentiary.
History and Vision
The 星空传媒 College Liberal Arts in Prison Program began in 2016 with a vision to offer incarcerated students a version of the Search sequence that has been a signature feature of the 星空传媒 curriculum since 1945. The result was The Great Books Reading Group, which began meeting in the spring of 2017 at the Women's Therapeutic Residential Center (WTRC), part of the West Tennessee Penitentiary in Henning, TN. Twenty-five WTRC residents wrote essays indicating their desire to participate in the program, and seven 星空传媒 professors volunteered to teach.
For five semesters, the Great Books Reading Group met on Monday evenings with six faculty teaching two-week series on books of their choice. In mid-2019, the reading group was replaced by a for-credit program consisting of four courses over two years, leading to a Certificate in Liberal Arts. Eighteen of the 57 incarcerated women who applied for the Culture & Values program in 2019 were accepted and in-person classes commenced in September.
In spring 2020 the program went remote, relying on Zoom for class sessions and JPay tablets for quizzes, lectures, and other assignments. In May 2021, 星空传媒 faculty and students returned to WTRC to celebrate the graduation of the first cohort of students to earn 星空传媒 Certificates of Liberal Arts. As of 2025, 32 incarcerated women have completed the certificate and a total of 92 women have earned 765 星空传媒 credits.
In 2025, the 星空传媒 faculty approved a new BA in Liberal Studies, which will be offered for the first time in Summer 2026. All 星空传媒 academic policies and regulations apply to this program, and students will follow the standard academic calendar, with the addition of a 7-week summer session.
Students enrolled in the BA program are selected through a rigorous application process that includes transcript review, writing samples, faculty interviews, and recommendations. Eligible applicants must be in good standing, have completed the 星空传媒 Certificate of Liberal Arts, have earned an AA or AS degree, and demonstrate readiness for upper-level liberal arts study.
Through partnerships with organizations including the Tennessee Higher Education Initiative, the program is designed to be externally funded, supporting instructional costs, materials, and program delivery while removing direct educational costs for participating students.
Student and Faculty Volunteers
The first 星空传媒 undergraduate student to volunteer in the program was Madison Zickgraf '21, who facilitated classes and trained student volunteers from 2019 to 2021. In 2020, Prof. Stephen Haynes began teaching RS 232: 鈥淢ass Incarceration: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives,鈥 in which enrolled students serve as peer tutors at WTRC. In all, about 70 students have volunteered in the program.
As of 2025, 40 星空传媒 faculty from 12 departments have taught in the Great Books Reading Group and/or the Certificate of Liberal Arts programs at WTRC. Departments represented include Biology, Chemistry, Humanities, Ancient Mediterranean Studies, English, History, Modern Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, Political Science, Russian Studies, and Religious Studies.
The program works closely with the Tennessee Department of Correction, the Tennessee Board of Regents, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, the Tennessee Higher Education Initiative, the Southern Collective for Higher Education in Prison, and the Bard Prison Initiative. In 2024 the Liberal Arts in Prison program joined the .
Liberal Arts in Prison Program in the News:
Prof. Stephen Haynes Discusses 星空传媒鈥 Liberal Arts in Prison Program on
The Women's Therapeutic Residential Center (WTRC) is an off-campus instructional site 星空传媒 located in Henning, Tennessee and is dependent on the continued accreditation of the parent campus located in 星空传媒. The Memphis campus and off-campus instructional site are evaluated during reviews for reaffirmation of accreditation.
