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By Freddie Allen
NNPA Senior
Washington
Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
– In an effort to provide suf-
ficient educational opportu-
nities for incarcerated
youth, the Department of
Justice and the Department
of Education have released
a joint corrections guidance
for state educational agen-
cies, a move expected to
help Black youth, a group
confined to juvenile correc-
tional facilities at higher
rates than their White peers.
Taking cues from the “My
Brother’s Keeper” Task
Force report released earlier
this year that recommended
reforming “the juvenile and
criminal justice systems to
reduce unnecessary interac-
tions for youth and enforce
the rights of incarcerated
youth to a quality educa-
tion,” Education Secretary
Arne Duncan said that stu-
dents in juvenile justice
facilities need a world-class
education and rigorous
coursework to help them
successfully transition out
of facilities and back into
the classroom or the work-
force becoming productive
members of society.
“Young people should not
fall off track for life just
because they come into con-
tact with the justice sys-
tem,” Duncan said, during a
recent visit to the Northern
Virginia Juvenile Detention
Center Alexandria, Va.
The Education Depart-
ment said that “60,000
young people face confine-
ment in juvenile justice or
secure-care facilities nation-
ally every day,” costing
nearly $90,000 per person
annually.
According to The Sen-
tencing Project, a group that
advocates for criminal jus-
tice reform and seeks to
address unjust racial dispar-
ities and practices in the
criminal justice system,
“Despite a drop in overall
arrest rates nationally, Black
youth are still twice as like-
ly to be arrested as White
youth.”
Even though Black youth
comprise just 14 percent of
the juvenile population, the
Sentencing Project reported
that young Blacks represent
FREDDIE ALLEN/NNPA/FILE PHOTO
Feds Seek Expanded Education for Jailed Youth
Attorney General Eric Holder seeks better
educational opportunities for imprisoned juveniles.
table accommodations for
children with disabilities
housed in correctional facil-
‘Young people should not fall
off track for life just because
they come into contact with
the justice system’
40 percent of young people
locked behind bars. White
youth account for 53 per-
cent of all youth and 33 per-
cent of incarcerated youth.
The Correctional Educa-
tion Guidance calls for edu-
cation services for detained
youth to be similar to pro-
grams found for students in
community schools equi-
ities and access to some
types of federal financial
aid, including Pell grants for
incarcerated students that
meet the eligibility require-
ments and clarification on
civil rights laws that prohib-
it discrimination “students
in traditional public schools
also apply to educational
services and supports pro-
vided to youth in juvenile
justice residential facili-
ties.”
The guidance also said
that states and state educa-
tional agencies need to work
to identify students who
may have undiagnosed dis-
abilities in order to get them
the academic support that
fits their needs.
A report by the National
Center for Education Statis-
tics found that between
1998 – 2007, 12 percent of
Black students, 6 to 21
years old received support
under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA), compared to 8 per-
cent of White students.
In a “Dear Colleague” let-
ter that was released with
the guidance package, Edu-
cation Department officials
wrote: “Absent a specific
exception, all IDEA protec-
tions apply to students with
disabilities in correctional
facilities and their parents.
Supporting effective and
accountable education for
incarcerated and at-risk
youth can result in cost sav-
ings to the public and enable
troubled youth to obtain an
education and enhance their
future employment options
and life choices.”
Even though students
can’t receive Title IV stu-
dent loans while incarcerat-
ed they can still apply for
federal Pell grants as long as
they’re confined to juvenile
justice facilities that fall
under local and county
jurisdictions.
Students that are convict-
ed of drug crimes as adults
(possession and sales) risk
suspension of their federal
financial aid if the offense
occurred while they were
receiving assistance. This
provision may dispropor-
tionately have a negative
impact on Blacks who are
arrested and convicted of
drug crimes at higher rates
than their White peers. Stu-
dents that serve time for “a
forcible or non-forcible sex-
ual offense” and still face
civil penalties once they are
released are ineligible to
receive Pell Grants.
During the announcement
about the corrections guid-
ance package, Attorney
General Eric H. Holder said
that all children deserve
equal access to a high-qual-
ity public education and that
includes children in the
juvenile justice system.
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December 17, 2014 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 7