Opinion: College education can change the lives of formerly incarcerated people. It changed mine.

From The San Diego Union Tribune: “Incarceration in the United States has grown exponentially at an alarming rate of 500 percent over the past 40 years. There are about 2 million people incarcerated in the United States — roughly the population of New Mexico or Nebraska — and over 75 million people are impacted both directly and indirectly by the U.S. criminal justice system. This has primarily resulted from incarcerating more people for longer periods of time. … Research has affirmed that building extensive networks of support and increasing access to education are instrumental in changing the trajectories of individuals and rehumanizing the lives of those who were once in the criminal justice system.”