Academics pan decision to cut CEGEP education in Quebec's federal prisons

Inmates in Quebec's federal prisons will soon be deprived of post-secondary studies that had been offered for 52 years after Correctional Service Canada (CSC) decided to slash funding.

At the Cowansville federal prison, about 100 kilometres east of Montreal, the news was received with profound disappointment.

"People were mourning. Several people were crying," professor Samuel Rochette said.

The psychology professor at Cégep Marie-Victorin, who also teaches in prisons, added that the most moving moment was when people stood up and explained how their studies had changed their lives.

As of June 30, CSC will suspend its funding for CEGEP education in federal prisons in Quebec.

Cégep Marie-Victorin was the last in the province to offer a pre-university program in social sciences to inmates at the Cowansville men's and Joliette women's institutions.

According to Rochette, around 60 inmates are enrolled in CEGEP courses at the Cowansville and Joliette facilities, but thousands have benefited from these educational services over the past few decades.

The program is so popular that some inmates are transferred to these two penitentiaries for the sole purpose of attending it.

There's even a waiting list.

"This training allows inmates to feel competent outside of prison. And it gives them the feeling that they can be something other than just a 'criminal,'" Rochette highlighted.

Louis Gendron, executive director of Cégep Marie-Victorin, said the decision makes no sense.

"It's shocking. We're completely shaken up," Gendron said. "It's in our DNA to serve and welcome populations of all kinds, with different needs."

Gendron and a group of professors are preparing a letter that they plan to send to the federal and provincial ministers of public safety. Their hope is to get the federal government to walk back its decision.

"We do not accept the situation," Gendron said.