Justice-Impacted Learners

For justice-impacted learners, education is a powerful tool for stability and a second chance. By supporting programs that connect education with reentry, WHEF helps strengthen families, communities, and Mississippi’s economy.

Access to quality postsecondary education can be transformative for people who are incarcerated or returning from incarceration. It creates pathways to economic mobility, reduces recidivism, and builds stronger communities. In Mississippi, where incarceration rates are among the highest in the nation, the need for meaningful education opportunities is urgent and undeniable. Yet justice-impacted learners often face barriers to accessing programs that can help them rebuild their lives and contribute to society.

At WHEF, through the Mississippi Consortium for Higher Education in Prison (MCHEP), we believe education is a human right—and that includes those currently and formerly incarcerated. MCHEP operates as a collaborative network, coordinating efforts across institutions instead of duplicating them. MCHEP supports faculty training, credit transfer, reentry planning, and Pell Grant implementation—building the infrastructure needed to sustain and scale prison education programs across the state.

Today, participating higher education institutions offering in-prison programming include:

  • Hinds Community College

  • Jones College

  • Meridian Community College

  • Mississippi Delta Community College

  • Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

  • Mississippi Valley State University

  • Northeast Mississippi Community College

  • Southwest Mississippi Community College

These institutions provide academic and workforce training across multiple facilities, including Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, Delta Correctional Facility, and several regional centers.

MCHEP also helps shape the policies and practices that support this work—from accreditation and financial aid access to trauma-informed instruction and humanizing language. The goal is to ensure incarcerated students receive the same quality of education and support as students on traditional campuses.

*Source: Vera Institute of Justice

“Receiving education while being incarcerated prepared me mentally and socially for real college life. Now I want to use my story to give others a different way of thinking—and a better way of living.”

– Formerly incarcerated student, now attending Jackson State University

MCHEP Mission

MCHEP is an alliance dedicated to ensuring all incarcerated people in Mississippi have access and support to complete quality postsecondary education and training while in prison and after release.

MCHEP Vision

MCHEP envisions a Mississippi in which postsecondary education can help currently and formerly incarcerated people reach their personal and professional goals, including self-betterment, family reunification, gainful employment, and positive social change.

MCHEP Values

MCHEP believes that accessible, high-quality postsecondary education is transformational—and restores our common humanity and connection with one another.

The Mississippi Consortium for Higher Education in Prison (MCHEP) operates in partnership with the Mississippi Department of Corrections and is led by the following organizations:

MHECP News