Inside-Out Pedagogy and Transformative Learning in Correctional Education

Abstract:

Correctional education sits at a critical intersection of public safety, rehabilitation, and workforce preparation within criminal justice and emergency services systems. As correctional institutions continue to prioritize evidence-based practices, higher education programs in prisons have emerged as an important strategy for improving institutional safety, lowering recidivism, and better preparing incarcerated individuals for successful reentry into the community. This article examines the pedagogical model used by the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program through a scholar-practitioner perspective grounded in instructional experience teaching a semester-long Inside-Out course inside a secure correctional facility. This article also examines how shared learning environments build professional competencies central to safety and emergency services practice, including ethical decision-making, interpersonal communication, collaborative problem-solving, cultural humility, critical thinking, and reflective leadership. Finally, the article discusses instructional design considerations, security constraints, and ethical responsibilities unique to teaching in correctional environments. Overall, this article demonstrates how correctional education contributes to institutional safety, workforce development, and the preparation of reflective practitioners capable of addressing the complex human dimensions of criminal justice and public safety.
Key Words: Correctional education, inside-out prison exchange program, prison higher education, reentry and rehabilitation, criminal justice education


 

Introduction

Every semester, a course offered through the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program—hereafter referred to as Inside-Out- begins in much the same way. On the first day, a select number of traditional college students (referred to as outside students) sit side-by-side with an equal number of incarcerated students (inside students) inside a prison classroom. At first, the divide in the room is obvious, as students avoid eye contact, sit quietly, avoid interaction, and carry assumptions about one another. The atmosphere is often filled with awkwardness, curiosity, apprehension, and uncertainty, as many of the outside students have never set foot inside a prison before, while many of the incarcerated students have not sat in a classroom or engaged meaningfully with someone from the outside in years, sometimes decades.

Higher education in correctional settings has received renewed attention since policymakers, practitioners, and researchers seek strategies that improve public safety while tackling the long-term consequences of mass incarceration. Incarcerated populations experience disproportionately low levels of educational attainment, limited access to workforce credentials, and restricted exposure to postsecondary learning opportunities, often resulting in constrained economic opportunities upon release from prison. These barriers often persist long after release, as research links limited educational access to continued justice system involvement, while postsecondary prison education is associated with lower recidivism rates, improved employment opportunities, and long-term cost savings through reduced reincarceration (Denney & Tynes, 2021; Stickle & Schuster, 2023). Multiple large-scale evaluations have documented these outcomes, reinforcing correctional education as both a rehabilitation strategy and a public safety investment. Within this context, correctional education functions not only as a tool for personal transformation but also as a broader public safety strategy rather than a peripheral rehabilitative service.

Within correctional settings, educational programming contributes to safer facilities by reducing misconduct, improving communication between incarcerated individuals and staff, and promoting prosocial engagement (Vaughn-Somervell et al., 2023). Education introduces structure, routine, and purpose into environments otherwise characterized by control and restriction. From an operational perspective, these dynamics support order and legitimacy, outcomes that correspond directly to the goals of safety and emergency services administrators. Within this evolving landscape, the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program represents a distinct pedagogical approach that extends beyond traditional models of correctional education. By bringing incarcerated and campus-based students together in a shared classroom within a correctional facility, Inside-Out courses create structured opportunities for dialogue, collaboration, and meaningful shifts in perspective. These courses deliberately alter traditional authority relations by positioning all participants as students engaged in intensive scholarly inquiry. For students preparing for careers in criminal justice and emergency services, Inside-Out courses offer experiential exposure to system complexity, ethical tension, and constraints that conventional campus or distance-learning environments cannot replicate. These experiences may also provide students with a competitive advantage over their peers when applying to law school or seeking employment opportunities within the criminal justice system. More importantly, these experiences prepare future practitioners to make informed, ethical, and evidence-based decisions when working with justice-involved populations while strengthening their understanding of the relationship between education, rehabilitation, and public safety.

This article’s significance extends beyond describing an innovative correctional education program. The sections that follow examine Inside-Out across three interconnected dimensions: its contribution to rehabilitation and institutional safety, its role in developing ethical and reflective future practitioners, and the institutional collaboration required to implement the program successfully. By integrating correctional education research with direct instructional experience, the article demonstrates how the Inside-Out pedagogical model can support student development, professional preparation, and more collaborative approaches to correctional education and public safety.

Background

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program is an internationally recognized educational initiative founded at Temple University. Faculty members complete specialized instructor training before teaching an Inside-Out course, ensuring fidelity to the program’s dialogic pedagogy, shared learning philosophy, and established instructional framework (The Inside-Out Center, n.d.). This structure distinguishes Inside-Out from many traditional correctional education initiatives by emphasizing reciprocal learning, facilitated dialogue, and collaborative knowledge production rather than one-directional classroom instruction.

Within this wider landscape, the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program represents an instructional model that differs from traditional approaches to prison education. Rather than enrolling only incarcerated students, Inside-Out courses bring together equal numbers of incarcerated and campus-based students in a shared academic community inside a correctional facility. Students are intentionally arranged in smaller mixed groups designed to promote interaction, dialogue, and mutual connection, while the learning environment itself emphasizes normalized academic participation and freedom of movement consistent with security guidelines. This structure intentionally challenges separation and instead promotes community learning, positioning education as a collective process (Maetzener et al., 2023).

Pedagogical Framework, Dialogue, and Joint Learning

Inside-Out courses are intentionally structured to balance academic discipline, security requirements, and ethical commitment. Courses are typically semester-long, offer academic credit, and are facilitated by faculty trained in Inside-Out pedagogy. Enrollment is evenly divided between incarcerated and campus-based students, with selection criteria emphasizing readiness for dialogue, accountability, and consistent interaction. This intentional design creates a learning environment grounded in shared respect, academic rigor, and shared responsibility. Within this system, instructors serve less as traditional lecturers and more as facilitators who cultivate dialogue, critical reflection, and meaningful interaction among the shared learning community, thus encouraging collective engagement and student-centered learning (Collica-Cox, 2022).

Structured dialogue is central to the Inside-Out model and serves as the primary mechanism for learning, relationship-building, and professional skill development. Facilitated discussion enables students to examine complex and often contested social issues while practicing respectful disagreement, active listening, and perspective-taking. Unlike traditional classroom discussions that may privilege abstract analysis, the Inside-Out dialogue is grounded in lived experience, context, and meaningful discussion. This teaching model encourages students to grapple with ambiguity, recognize competing values, and critically reflect on their assumptions, each of which is an essential competency for practitioners operating within safety and emergency services systems. These instructional practices simultaneously cultivate competencies expected of safety and emergency services professionals, including ethical reasoning, interpersonal communication, cultural humility, collaborative leadership, conflict resolution, and reflective decision-making under complex conditions.

Evidence of Effectiveness, Outcomes, and Future Research

Research examining postsecondary education across multiple prison systems indicates that program effectiveness depends heavily on institutional alignment and cross-professional collaboration. A multi-state study of higher education in prison found that sustainable programming requires coordination among educators, correctional staff, and administrators, along with a shared commitment to education as a core institutional function (Dewey et al., 2020). Programs operating within supportive institutional cultures have been associated with improved facility climate, reduced violence, fewer disciplinary infractions, and stronger perceptions of legitimacy among incarcerated populations (Vaughn-Somervell et al., 2023). These outcomes are particularly important for corrections and public safety professionals responsible for maintaining safe, orderly, and constructive institutional environments. Collectively, the findings position Inside-Out as an educational strategy that can advance institutional management, rehabilitation, and public safety objectives simultaneously (Wheelock, et al.,2025).

Research on correctional education also consistently identifies postsecondary programming as an effective strategy for reducing recidivism and supporting post-release stability. Large-scale evaluations and meta-analyses demonstrate that individuals who participate in college-level prison education are less likely to return to prison and more likely to obtain employment following release (Denney & Tynes, 2021; Stickle & Schuster, 2023). Academic participation may also strengthen confidence, self-efficacy, and educational identity while promoting more productive behavior during incarceration. From both public safety and fiscal perspectives, these findings suggest that correctional education should be understood not merely as an academic intervention, but as a multidisciplinary strategy that contributes to institutional safety, workforce development, successful reentry, and long-term community well-being.

Evidence specific to the Inside-Out model further demonstrates its rehabilitative and educational value. Research across criminology, sociology, education, and correctional studies has employed longitudinal surveys, mixed-methods evaluations, qualitative interviews, and causal analyses to examine the program’s effects (Perez & Leon, 2020; Denney & Tynes, 2021; Vaughn-Somervell et al., 2023). An evaluation of the Australian Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program found that shared learning environments strengthened critical thinking, ethical analysis, and systems awareness among campus-based students while enhancing academic identity, confidence, and self-efficacy among incarcerated students (Martinovic, Kennedy, & A’Vard, 2025). Central to these outcomes was the intentional treatment of all participants as students rather than separating them according to incarcerated or campus-based status. This approach reinforces dignity, intellectual equality, and reciprocal learning.

Campus-based students participating in semester-long Inside-Out courses have also demonstrated reduced reliance on stereotypes, increased empathy, and greater awareness of systemic complexity (Perez & Leon, 2020; Collica-Cox, 2022). Sustained engagement within correctional settings allows students to move beyond conventional classroom instruction through meaningful discussion, collaborative learning, and direct academic engagement with incarcerated classmates. These experiences help connect theoretical knowledge with applied learning and distinguish Inside-Out from traditional instructional models. They are especially relevant for students preparing to enter corrections, law enforcement, probation, parole, and other safety and emergency services professions, where ethical reasoning, cultural awareness, communication, and the ability to navigate complex social environments are essential.

Although existing scholarship strongly supports Inside-Out and correctional education more broadly, opportunities remain for further research. Much of the Inside-Out literature relies on self-reported outcomes and qualitative evidence, which may limit the generalizability of findings across larger populations and different correctional environments (Perez & Leon, 2020). Conversely, large-scale causal studies often emphasize recidivism while giving less attention to the broader educational, relational, institutional, and professional benefits of participation (Denney & Tynes, 2021). Future research should integrate these areas by examining measurable institutional and reentry outcomes alongside the long-term professional development of campus-based students, particularly those who later enter corrections, law enforcement, probation, parole, and related public safety fields.

Research on the Inside-Out model also spans multiple disciplines, including criminology, sociology, education, and correctional studies, and relies heavily on peer-reviewed scholarship.

Existing research includes longitudinal surveys, mixed-methods evaluations, qualitative interviews, and causal analyses. Collectively, these approaches provide a strong foundation for evaluating Inside-Out education as both a rehabilitative intervention and a professional preparation model (Perez & Leon, 2020; Denney & Tynes, 2021; Vaughn-Somervell et al., 2023). For an entire semester, campus students participating in Inside-Out courses show decreased reliance on stereotypes, increased empathy, and greater awareness of systemic complexity (Perez & Leon, 2020; Collica-Cox, 2022). Sustained participation inside correctional settings allows students to move beyond traditional classroom learning through interaction, meaningful discussion, and direct academic engagement with incarcerated individuals. These experiences help bridge the gap between theoretical instruction and applied experiential learning.

These results also distinguish Inside-Out from conventional classroom instruction and emphasize its relevance for preparing future safety and emergency services professionals who must operate effectively within ethically complex and socially multifaceted environments.

Despite these strengths, important opportunities remain within the Inside-Out literature. Much of the existing research relies heavily on self-reported outcomes and qualitative data, which may limit the generalizability of findings across more extensive populations and prison contexts (Perez & Leon, 2020). At the same time, large-scale causal studies often focus narrowly on recidivism measures, potentially overlooking the broader educational and relational benefits associated with Inside-Out programming (Denney & Tynes, 2021). Collectively, these limitations point to the need for a more integrated analysis that examines long-term professional outcomes among traditional college students who participate in Inside-Out courses, particularly those who later enter corrections, law enforcement, probation, parole, and related public safety professions.

Inside-Out in Practice: A Practitioner Perspective on Teaching in Correctional Settings

The following observations draw upon my experience teaching an Inside-Out corrections course inside a secure correctional institution. My course examines the historical development of the American criminal justice system, punishment and rehabilitation, restorative justice, mass incarceration, and the relationship between criminal and social justice. The syllabus combines critical readings, facilitated dialogue, Literature Circles, analytical assignments, and individual reflection papers to help inside and outside students connect scholarly material with lived experience (Hinton, 2024). These instructional strategies illustrate how Inside-Out’s broader pedagogical principles can be translated into a structured semester-long course while remaining responsive to correctional policies, security requirements, and restrictions on communication.

One of the most immediate challenges involves accessing correctional institutions. Because prisons are frequently located outside urban centers, instructors may spend a substantial portion of the day traveling, navigating security checkpoints, and complying with institutional procedures before instruction begins. Contraband policies, including restrictions on electronics, paper materials, and personal belongings, further complicated course preparation and delivery. Staffing shortages, shift changes, movement procedures, and daily counts may delay class sessions or prevent incarcerated students from attending consistently (Weaver, Rousseau, & Napior, 2020). Because security and facility operations take precedence over educational programming, instructors must prepare for interruptions and adjust their lesson plans accordingly.

Communication within correctional institutions can also be inconsistent because of staff turnover, institutional hierarchy, and restricted contact between instructors and incarcerated students. Outside the classroom, communication through letters, telephone calls, emails, or other channels is generally prohibited. As a result, incarcerated students have limited opportunities to ask questions, seek clarification, or receive feedback between class meetings. Approved instructional materials may also be restricted or denied with little notice. These conditions require instructors to develop flexible syllabi, alternative activities, and adaptable teaching strategies that preserve academic continuity without conflicting with institutional requirements.

Research supports the importance of collaboration in addressing these challenges. Correctional education programs are most effective when educators, correctional staff, and administrators understand safety, education, and rehabilitation as interconnected rather than competing priorities (Dewey et al., 2020). Prison educators may also experience cultural disorientation while learning to navigate unfamiliar institutional norms, correctional power structures, and security expectations. Sustaining a meaningful learning environment therefore requires resilience, reflexivity, patience, and cooperation across professional roles.

Reflexivity and boundary management are especially important in Inside-Out classrooms; instructors often move away from exclusively authoritative teaching roles and adopt facilitative approaches centered on dialogue, co-learning, and shared knowledge production (Ferguson, 2023).  Faculty must also recognize and manage power differences between incarcerated and campus-based students through transparency, structured participation, and clear expectations. LaSane et al. (2025) similarly found that Inside-Out instructors routinely navigate correctional power relations, security constraints, and the unequal consequences experienced by incarcerated students. Despite these challenges, instructors reported professional growth, heightened ethical awareness, and lasting changes in their teaching philosophies.

Ground rules on participation, confidentiality, respectful listening, and classroom boundaries help create an environment where students feel both supported and intellectually challenged. These dialogic practices also reflect the professional interactions encountered in corrections, law enforcement, probation, parole, and emergency management. Practitioners in these fields must communicate effectively across differences in authority, culture, identity, and lived experience. Through repeated participation in facilitated dialogue, students learn to remain composed when confronted with difficult subjects, articulate evidence-based positions, and respond constructively to perspectives that challenge their assumptions.

Students read Danielle Sered’s Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair and Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Hinton Syllabi, 2024). The readings encourage students to consider competing perspectives on violence, punishment, racial inequality, repair, and institutional reform. Students complete the readings individually, then examine them through Literature Circles of four to six participants. This structure distributes responsibility among group members and encourages every student to contribute to the learning process.

Within each Literature Circle, students assume roles designed to support participation and deeper analysis. The Discussion Facilitator develops questions and guides the conversation. The Literary Luminary selects important passages for group examination. The Connector relates the readings to personal experiences, course concepts, or contemporary social issues. The Reporter summarizes central themes and identifies areas requiring further discussion, while the Scribe documents attendance, discussion points, and the major ideas emerging from the session. After each Literature Circle, students complete an individual reflection paper that encourages continued critical analysis and personal engagement with the material. Because communication outside the classroom is prohibited, these structured activities are essential for sustaining meaningful academic engagement during the limited time students have together. They give participants opportunities to exchange perspectives without requiring personal relationships or contact beyond the course. The structure also helps maintain the distinction between reciprocal learning and unrestricted personal disclosure, protecting classroom integrity while respecting correctional policies.

From a practitioner’s perspective, these experiences demonstrate that successful Inside-Out education depends on more than instructor commitment or sound curriculum. Its effectiveness also requires institutional cooperation, administrative support, professional adaptability, and a shared commitment to education as part of rehabilitation and public safety. When these elements are aligned, Inside-Out extends beyond traditional classroom instruction by fostering structured dialogue, reciprocal learning, critical self-reflection, and professional development. The model creates a rigorous educational environment where incarcerated and campus-based students can examine the justice system together while developing the communication, ethical reasoning, and interpersonal skills needed to engage constructively across differences.

Student Impact and Future Implications

Research suggests that participation in Inside-Out programs fosters psychological well-being, goal orientation, and prosocial identity formation, benefits that are increasingly recognized as central to successful reentry (LaBarbera, 2023; Dewey et al., 2020). Academic involvement in correctional settings is additionally reinforced by a learning infrastructure that goes beyond formal coursework. In correctional institutions with library access, policy and empirical research on prison libraries demonstrate that access to instructional resources supports self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and mental health, helping create safer environments (Boyington, Bryne, & Durkin, 2025). Qualitative findings from the PRISM project similarly show that library access promotes respect for others, constructive social interaction, and sustained academic involvement, reinforcing official academic programs such as Inside-Out courses (Brammer et al., 2025). These findings highlight the importance of viewing correctional education not as separate from, but as an ecosystem in which coursework, learning spaces, and culture collectively support both student development and facility safety.

Similar to incarcerated students, campus-based students also experience growth through participation in Inside-Out programs. Students have reported reduced punitive attitudes, enhanced empathy, and greater awareness compared with peers enrolled in traditional courses (Perez & Leon, 2020; Collica-Cox, 2022). These findings directly support workforce preparation goals in criminal justice and emergency services education, where practitioners must navigate ethical ambiguity and social complexity. Positive outcomes have also been documented, with correctional facilities that support higher education programming reporting improved prison climate, reduced misconduct, and enhanced legitimacy among incarcerated populations (Vaughn-Somervell et al., 2023; Dewey et al., 2020). This further reinforces Inside-Out’s relevance to correctional operations and broader public safety efforts.

Opportunities, Implementation Considerations and Ethical Responsibilities

Inside-Out programs face important implementation considerations involving funding, staffing, institutional capacity, policy consistency, and administrative support. These considerations also present opportunities for correctional agencies and higher education institutions to strengthen program sustainability through long-term funding, stable faculty support, transferable academic credit, coordinated degree pathways, and formal cross-agency partnerships (Appleby, 2025). Addressing these areas can improve educational access while ensuring that Inside-Out courses remain academically rigorous, operationally sustainable, and responsive to the needs of incarcerated students.

Policy analyses additionally indicate that program sustainability is closely tied to larger state educational frameworks, as states that implement centralized oversight, automatic enrollment mechanisms, and policy incentives demonstrate higher levels of educational opportunity and participation among incarcerated populations (Stickle & Sprick Schuster, 2024). These policy structures help reduce fragmentation and strengthen program stability, creating a stronger foundation for expanding Inside-Out and similar programs. Research also shows that restored Pell Grant access and coordinated partnerships play an important role in sustaining postsecondary education in correctional settings (Cantora, Miller, & White, 2020). As a result, supportive policy environments remain critical to the long-term sustainability and equity of these programs.

Ethical issues also remain central to Inside-Out instruction. Participation must be voluntary, respectful, and academically rigorous, avoiding symbolic or superficial participation that fails to produce meaningful educational results. Scholars warn against approaches that emphasize exposure or emotional impact rather than substantive learning and reciprocal benefit (Perez & Leon, 2020). Faculty must also remain attentive to power dynamics within mixed student populations and ensure that classroom practices do not unintentionally reproduce hierarchies or stigmatization. Furthermore, instructors face ethical responsibilities related to student confidentiality, emotional labor, and boundary management. Teaching in correctional environments also requires careful navigation of ever-changing facility rules alongside a commitment to inclusive and ethical teaching practices (Ferguson, 2023). Ongoing faculty training, reflective practice, and support are critical to preserving ethical standards and the integrity of Inside-Out programs over time.

One of the greatest challenges facing prison education programs is ensuring continuity of education and support following incarceration. Formerly incarcerated individuals often return to the community facing significant barriers related to identification, housing, employment, and access to continued educational opportunities. Recent scholarship emphasizes that the impact of correctional education cannot be evaluated solely during incarceration, but must also be understood across the transition from prison to post-release. Multi-site analyses of formerly incarcerated students demonstrate that reentry is a critical transition point that requires intentional coordination rather than ad hoc support (Mowreader, 2024). Research further indicates that successful educational persistence after release depends heavily on academic preparation during incarceration, clear credit-transfer pathways, continuity of academic identity, coordinated reentry planning, and sustained advising and support following release (National College Attainment Network, 2024). Effective transitions also require strong partnerships between correctional education programs, colleges, and community-based organizations to ensure educational gains achieved during incarceration are maintained after release. While Inside-Out courses may help prepare traditional students for careers in criminal justice and public safety, they do not always fully address the practical challenges incarcerated students face upon reentry. Without intentional reentry planning and continued educational support, many formerly incarcerated individuals never re-enroll in educational programs, and the long-term benefits of prison-based education can quickly diminish once individuals return to the community. These findings support framing correctional education, including Inside-Out courses, as part of a broader educational and workforce development continuum, directly connected to long-term public safety and successful reintegration outcomes, rather than as isolated in-prison interventions.

Conclusion

As discussed at the beginning of this article, Inside-Out courses often begin with uncertainty, discomfort, and unspoken assumptions as traditional and incarcerated students enter a shared classroom experience. Yet over the course of the semester, those initial barriers gradually give way to trust, dialogue, and meaningful connection. Through collaborative learning and honest reflection, students begin to recognize common experiences and shared humanity, transforming the classroom into a space marked by mutual respect, support, and authentic engagement. Students begin to recognize common experiences, shared struggles, and connections that were not visible at the start of the semester. What initially begins with hesitation gradually evolves into trust, laughter, meaningful conversation, and authentic connection. By the end of the semester, many students who initially entered the classroom with hesitation leave with a deeper understanding of one another, the criminal justice system, and the shared experiences that connect each of them.  The significance of the Inside-Out model extends beyond individual classroom experiences. As correctional agencies and institutions of higher education continue to pursue evidence-based approaches to rehabilitation and workforce development, programs such as Inside-Out demonstrate how correctional education can strengthen institutional safety, prepare future practitioners, and contribute to more effective public safety systems.

This transformation reflects the broader significance of Inside-Out as a model situated at the intersection of education, public safety, and community involvement. By creating collective learning environments inside correctional settings, Inside-Out courses foster academic growth, while simultaneously strengthening moral judgment, systems awareness, communication skills and professional judgment, competencies that are essential for emerging practitioners across corrections, probation, parole, law enforcement and related public safety professions. As correctional systems and academic institutions continue to pursue evidence-based approaches to reducing recidivism and strengthening reentry results, Inside-Out provides an adaptable framework grounded in research, practice, and ethical practice. Continued investment in correctional education, supported by institutional commitment and thoughtful policy development, can strengthen both educational and public safety outcomes. Continued investment in programs that combine rigorous academic instruction with experiential learning offers benefits that extend well beyond the classroom, influencing institutional culture, professional practice, and long-term community outcomes. These efforts provide a meaningful pathway toward safer institutions, stronger communities, improved workforce preparation, and more successful reentry outcomes for justice-impacted individuals.

 

 

References

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Dr. Terrance Hinton is a faculty member within the College of Safety and Emergency Services at Columbia Southern. He also teaches an Inside-Out Corrections course through the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project, integrating undergraduate and incarcerated students in a unique learning environment. As a practitioner-scholar, Dr. Hinton has held several leadership roles within the criminal justice field and the Columbus community where he has assisted over 4,000 justice-impacted individuals.

His research and scholarly focus center on reentry topics such as workforce development, education, recidivism and the barriers that hinder reintegration into society for justice-impacted individuals. His contributions have been featured in publications such as The Columbus Dispatch, Journal of Community Justice, Prison Journalism Project, and American Correctional Association magazines. Additionally, his work has been showcased on NBC4 WCMH-TV and WOSU Public Media Radio.

Dr. Hinton’s dedication to service has been recognized with the Excellence in Service Award from his alma mater Wingate University. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Wingate University, a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Southern University and A&M College, and a Doctorate in Public Policy and Administration from Walden University.

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