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115 J. Crim. L. & Crimin. Online 1 (2025)

handle is hein.journals/jclconl115 and id is 1 raw text is: 0091-4169/25/ 11500nline-0001 THE JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW & CRIMINOLOGY Vol. 115, No. Online Copyright © 2025 by Northwestern Prison Education Program Printed in U SA WHAT DOES NPEP MEAN TO US? PERSONAL REFLECTIONS BY STUDENTS ENROLLED IN THE NORTHWESTERN PRISON EDUCATION PROGRAM The Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) provides currently incarcerated individuals across Illinois an undergraduate education from Northwestern University. At Stateville and Logan Correctional Centers, admitted NPEP students work toward a Bachelor of Science degree, taking a full course load taught by Northwestern professors within the prisons' walls. On November 14, 2023, the inaugural cohort of NPEP students at Stateville graduated from the program, making history as the first incarcerated students in the United States to earn a bachelor's degree from a top ten university as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. This piece is a collection of personal reflections from currently enrolled NPEP students, who were asked to answer an open-ended prompt: What does NPEP mean to you? Students were encouraged to respond in any way they saw fit, and the essays included here represent various and varied takes on the simple question. Thomas Gordon, Justin Foster, and Scott Sanders reflect on the application and enrollment process of NPEP and the opportunities the program has given its students. Meanwhile, Juan Garcia and Brandon V. Wyatt write more generally about the importance and intersections of education and abolition. Bookending the collection, Tony Triplett and Giovanni Rios vividly describe NPEP as not just a program, but a lifesaving endeavor. T O N Y T RIPLE TT ....................................................................................... . . 2 B RAN D ON V . W YA TT .............................................................................. . 5 JU A N G A RN ICA ....................................................................................... . . 7 JU STIN F O STER ....................................................................................... . . 10 SC O TT SA N D ER S ...................................................................................... . 11 T H OM A S G ORD ON .................................................................................. . . 13 G IO V A N N I R IO S .................................................................................... . . 15 1