U.S. justice officials and education leaders recently celebrated Second Chance Month in Miami, joining current and formerly incarcerated individuals, corrections officials and reentry advocates.
Office of Justice Programs Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Amy L. Solomon and U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe also participated in a separate ceremony honoring front-line workers certified as community violence intervention professionals with Miami's Circle of Brotherhood, according to an April 6 news release.
“In every sense, this has been a collective achievement," Solomon said in the release. "The impetus for Pell reinstatement came from incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students. And so many people — corrections officials and education professionals, reentry advocates, community organizers and national leaders like our partners at the Vera Institute of Justice — came together to see it through.”
Solomon was joined by Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance Karhlton F. Moore and Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics Alex Piquero at the celebration in Miami, the release reported. The event was attended by corrections officers, individuals who are currently or have been incarcerated, reentry advocates, as well as leaders from Miami Dade College and the Vera Institute of Justice.
BJA Second Chance Fellow Angel Sanchez, who obtained his GED while serving time in the Florida Department of Corrections, and later earned his college and law degrees, is a licensed attorney in the District of Columbia, and has been accepted as a candidate for the Master of Laws at Yale Law School, led the Second Chance Month event, the release said. Sanchez focuses his legal practice and academic research on topics related to mass incarceration and collateral consequences. The occasion marked the resumption of jailed students' eligibility for federal Pell grants.
In 2020, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, was simplified by the U.S. government through the enactment of the FAFSA Simplification Act, the release reported. One of the significant changes brought about by this law was the restoration of eligibility for individuals residing in correctional facilities, thereby granting them the opportunity to enroll in Pell programs.
According to the release, this new provision will take effect starting from the 2023-24 academic year. This restoration of eligibility marks a significant departure from the previous policy that prohibited people incarcerated in correctional facilities from accessing Pell grants, which was introduced by the 1994 Crime Bill.
