Get involved: Make copies of the petition from the text below, or contact DC-RAIL for an original from which to make photocopies. Then send your signed petitions to PO Box 973, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
With the number of prisoners in this country at more than 1.7 million and growing, governments are cutting back on education programs for prisoners, including prisoners in the Washington, D.C. area. The injustice system already unfairly imprisons those with less education, especially members of the Black, Latino, and First Nations. Now they are making it even harder on prisoners, and eliminating one of the last "rehabilitation" aspects of the system.
We, the undersigned, demand that federal, state and local governments provide for free, voluntary, and complete access to all levels of education for prisoners in the Washington, D.C. area, including access to outside college and university programs and uncensored access to all reading materials inside prisons. We also call on all regional schools, colleges, and universities to cooperate in providing educational support for prisoners.