Texas Prison Education Initiative

The Texas Prison Education Initiative (TPEI) is a volunteer-run organization at The University of Texas at Austin. Our mission is to provide free credit-bearing college courses to incarcerated youth and adults. We strive to create educational opportunities, reduce inequalities in higher education, and change the lives of incarcerated Texans and their families. TPEI has offered approximately 40 classes to approximately 500 students in multiple prisons in Texas.

We are raising funds to cover the costs of supplies and fees that are required to continue providing free, credit-bearing education to incarcerated students. Although our instructors are volunteers that teach for free, to cost of supplies and course fees for the next two years of programming, we need about $50,000.

The Texas Prison Education Initiative is one of the only programs in Texas that offers free university courses. This is important because incarcerated individuals are often unable to afford higher education. Moreover, TPEI primarily serves incarcerated women, who have historically been given much fewer programming and educational opportunities compared to incarcerated men. The vast majority of incarcerated women are mothers, and we believe that any opportunity to move past their criminal record will not only serve them beyond incarceration, but also their families. TPEI believes education is freedom.

Here is some of what your support helps make possible:

Taking this course gave me some much needed confidence in myself. After I get out of prison, I want to go back to college and this course validated that I can do it!

I gained experience in how to use correct math terminology and what math symbols mean. I learned graph theory, matrices, and some basics in proofs. Proofs were the hardest but most valuable because they made me look at math differently.

I learned so much about the history of the US and I was able to articulate what I got from each reading in the essays. My favorite part was the research paper. I love researching and putting together all of my notes and thoughts.