Princeton University has donated 52 laptop computers to the New Jersey Department of Corrections to support higher education and digital literacy.
The donation of the laptops and related equipment like headsets and printers will be used in two state prisons as part of the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP). NJ-STEP is a consortium of higher education institutions in New Jersey that partners with the State of New Jersey Department of Corrections and New Jersey State Parole Board.
Through NJ-STEP, incarcerated students can earn credits toward an associate’s degree in liberal arts at Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) or a bachelor’s degree in justice studies from Rutgers University. The Prison Teaching Initiative (PTI) is a key member of NJ-STEP.
The donation will help approximately 300 incarcerated undergraduate students at the East Jersey State Prison and the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women build knowledge and digital literacy skills for the transition to college and the workforce after release from prison.
“We can’t wait for our incarcerated students to get to work on these computers,” said PTI Director Jill Stockwell. “They’ll be researching their senior theses, they’ll be learning [computer] programs, they’ll be practicing their language skills and they’ll be revising and writing essays. And in all of this, they’ll be gaining the skill set that they will need to head in the direction of their dreams.”
Each laptop and its related equipment will travel together on a cart configured as a “mobile computer lab,” Princeton said in a press release. The laptop carts can be wheeled from classroom to classroom, allowing instructors to integrate technology into their lesson plans.
“Computer literacy is critical to the education of people in the 21st century,” said Princeton Provost Jen Rexford, a decorated computer scientist, noting that the mobile computer labs “will enable the incarcerated students to learn really valuable skills to enable them to take the next step in their education and work and enable their families and their communities to thrive.”
The donation was funded by an anonymous member of Princeton’s alumni community.
