California’s prison system has put laptops into the hands of every incarcerated student taking college classes, a $23.2 million effort that is changing how community colleges teach behind bars — including at prisons in Southern California and the Inland Empire.
Over the past three years, the state has distributed about 30,000 laptops to incarcerated students. Nearly half went to the roughly 13,000 people enrolled in community college courses while in prison. The devices are increasingly replacing the long-used correspondence model, in which students completed paper assignments mailed back and forth between prisons and colleges.
The shift has opened a debate among incarcerated students, former students and faculty: Online classes can expand access and offer more timely feedback, but many say in-person instruction remains the most effective way to build confidence, relationships and academic skills.
For Richard Moye, 44, who has been incarcerated for 16 years and takes both online and in-person classes through Solano Community College at California Medical Facility in Vacaville, technology skills are now essential.
“The more we understand about today’s world, the better we’ll be equipped to get out into the workforce as things continue to change,” Moye said. “We don’t want to get left behind. Tech literacy is of the utmost importance behind prison walls.”
The expansion comes as California Community Colleges continues to grow its prison education program, known as Rising Scholars. In 2024, the state Legislative Analyst’s Office recommended that the program make greater use of online classes to address a persistent problem: limited classroom space inside prisons.
Today, 104 of California’s 116 community colleges work with state prisons to offer classes or degree programs. Community college data show that more than 21,000 courses were offered in prisons during fall 2025. Twenty colleges provide in-person instruction, with faculty traveling to facilities to teach. The rest offer classes online or, less frequently than in the past, through mailed correspondence, according to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.
State officials do not have a precise count of how many prison-based college courses are conducted online versus by mail. Colleges can use different data labels for correspondence-style classes, and the reporting is not consistent, the Chancellor’s Office said.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office also recommended that Rising Scholars give priority to students who are still working toward their first degree. In-person prison classes often have tight enrollment limits because of space restrictions, typically ranging from 18 to 40 students. At many colleges, enrollment is first-come, first-served, which can allow students pursuing second or third degrees to take seats from those who have not yet earned one, said Orlando Sanchez Zavala, a policy analyst with the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Sanchez Zavala said focusing access on first-time degree seekers could have the greatest effect on reducing recidivism.
State data suggest education in prison is closely tied to outcomes after release. Among people who earned an associate degree while incarcerated and were released in the 2018-19 fiscal year, 8.5% were convicted of a new crime within three years, according to the prison system’s recidivism report. That compares with a 41.9% conviction rate among all people released that year.
Expanding online and correspondence options could allow colleges to offer more sections with smaller caps, Sanchez Zavala said, giving more incarcerated people a chance to enroll.
Still, the barriers are substantial. Even where prisons have classrooms, those rooms are often shared with other programs, meetings or services. Classes sometimes must be held in gyms or dining halls.
Joseph Bruno Martinez, 40, said he had difficulty enrolling in college classes while incarcerated at high-security prisons, where lockdowns could disrupt the school schedule.
Garret Eiferman, 56, a formerly incarcerated student who is now a graduate student at Cal State Northridge, said correctional officers were not always willing or able to help students complete degrees. He said he had to build relationships with officers so he could use classrooms after 7 p.m. and, at times, persuade staff to allow classmates to leave their housing units to attend class.
Eiferman also described outdated textbooks — often with hard covers removed for safety reasons — little feedback on mailed coursework, and the challenge of balancing classes with prison jobs and required programs.
Although he did not take fully online classes while incarcerated, Eiferman said he understands why they may help students navigate obstacles that come with in-person instruction.
The laptops are intended to do more than deliver assignments. Students and instructors say they expose incarcerated people to digital tools that are routine in college and the workplace outside prison. Much coursework and grading now happens through Canvas, the online learning platform widely used by California’s higher education systems for assignments, submissions and communication between students and instructors.
Isela Ocegueda, vice president of instruction at Coastline College, teaches an online English course to incarcerated students. She said using Canvas can make the transition smoother for students who continue their education after release. Coastline, where about 80% of instruction is online, moved away from mail-based prison courses in 2023 and now describes its model as “Canvas-supported correspondence.”
Ocegueda said online tools allow instructors to design more engaging assignments and provide more meaningful feedback. In one English class, she opened the semester by asking students to write a journal entry introducing themselves and explaining how she could support them. For the final research paper, students can submit drafts and receive edits much faster than they could through mailed packets.
“Imagine just trying to receive essays in the mail and then make your corrections and then send them back,” Ocegueda said. “That was really hard to do in the mail version of correspondence. Canvas-supported correspondence allows more for that writing process to actually happen.”
But online instruction still runs into prison-specific limits. Wi-Fi access varies by facility, and students may wait up to a week for prison librarians to approve some reading materials.
Students at Pelican Bay State Prison in Del Norte County and the California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County have said they cannot access Canvas from their cells because of limited Wi-Fi. Students at Folsom State Prison and San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, by contrast, have said they can complete coursework from their cells because the signal is strong.
A state prison system spokesperson said incarcerated people have Wi-Fi access in housing units at all but four state prisons. All prisons have Wi-Fi in education areas and classrooms, though the strength of the connection can vary.
Some students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in prison have also reported continuing problems with internet access and research materials, including the inability to conduct basic online searches.
Ben Brookeshire, an English professor at Solano College, said one of his biggest challenges is the delay students face in accessing what he called the “information space.” Some documents students need from digital research libraries must first be approved by prison librarians.
Even with the growth of online education, many students and instructors say face-to-face learning remains vital.
Eiferman completed most of his prison coursework through correspondence classes from Palo Verde and Coastline colleges between 2009 and 2019. While incarcerated, he earned an associate of arts degree, an associate of science degree and a business certificate. He was also pursuing a U.S. history degree when he was paroled in 2020.
“The bulk of my interaction with professors during the degree completion was very minimal,” he said. “It’s distance learning, so that means it’s all done with an envelope and a stamp, and feedback was never a thing.”
That made the transition to university difficult, he said, because he discovered gaps in what he had learned and areas where he needed to relearn material more fully.
Eiferman took his first in-person college course through Bakersfield College at Golden State Community Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in the southern San Joaquin Valley. The class was math, a subject he had long struggled with. But in the classroom, he said, he experienced breakthroughs and was able to help other students.
Moye said in-person classes help students better understand instructors’ expectations and offer a level of interaction that online courses cannot fully replicate, including peer support, tutoring, group discussion and collaboration.
Community college system data show that in spring 2025, incarcerated students had a 77% success rate in internet-based and correspondence courses, compared with 85% in in-person courses. Success means earning a C or higher, or a passing mark in courses that are not letter-graded. Incarcerated students in in-person classes also had a success rate 10 percentage points higher than community college students overall.
“I’m a fan of in-person learning,” Moye said. “That’s my favorite style of learning, because to me, it resembles most what’s going on in society. If we’re trying to prepare incarcerated men and women for society, we have to have it look as much like society as possible.”
Brookeshire said he understands online courses are likely to keep expanding, but he continues to teach only in person because of the connection it allows him to build with students.
“I really believe there’s magic in a classroom,” he said. “I really believe that face-to-face instruction is irreplaceable.”
Original source: CalMatters
