Degrees of Freedom: Northwestern’s Prison Education Program with Professor Jennifer Lackey

The Podvocate

In this episode, we explore how the Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) is transforming lives behind bars through access to higher education. What makes this program unique? How does it provide incarcerated individuals with the tools to achieve academic success and personal growth? We’ll discuss NPEP’s mission, its challenges, and the incredible stories of students whose lives have been changed with the director of the program, Professor Jennifer Lackey. Along the way, we’ll dive into the broader implications of education in prisons—can it reduce recidivism and foster true rehabilitation? Join us as we examine how NPEP is redefining second chances and what it means to bring the power of education to incarcerated students. Jennifer Lackey is the Wayne and Elizabeth Jones Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Law (courtesy) at Northwestern University, Founding Director of the Northwestern Prison Education Program, and Senior Research Associate at the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science at the University of Johannesburg. Lackey’s research is primarily in social epistemology with a current focus on epistemic issues within the American criminal legal system. She is the author of over 60 articles and three books, including her recent Criminal Testimonial Injustice, which won the 2024 North American Society for Social Philosophy Book Award. She is also the editor of five volumes and editor-in-chief of two journals in philosophy, Philosophical Studies and Episteme. Lackey is the winner of the 2024 Humanitas Award, 2023 Horace Mann Medal, and the Lebowitz Prize for Philosophical Achievement and Contribution. She was elected President of the American Philosophical Association’s Central Division from 2021–2022, was recently named the 2025 holder of the Spinoza Chair at the University of Amsterdam, and has received grants and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Research & Sources: https://sites.northwestern.edu/jal788/ https://sites.northwestern.edu/npep/ https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2020/02/northwestern-prison-education-program-receives-1-million-mellon-grant/ https://magazine.northwestern.edu/features/prison-education-unlocks-potential/ https://sites.northwestern.edu/npep/why-prison-education/ https://www.wbez.org/shows/reset/meet-the-educator-bringing-liberal-arts-to-illinois-prisoners/6906021f-30ca-45ec-8aad-a2747b3942a7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5IhWJhgI9Y&ab_channel=TEDxTalks Resources: https://sites.northwestern.edu/npep/