Brave Behind Bars: Prison education program focuses on computing skills for women

One of the co-founders, Martin Nisser, a PhD student from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), explains the digital literacy and self-efficacy focused objectives: "Some of the women haven't had the opportunity to work with a computer for 25 years, and aren't yet accustomed to using the internet. We're working with them to build their capabilities with these modern tools in order to prepare them for life outside," says Nisser. Even for the students who became incarcerated more recently, it can be difficult to keep up with the fast pace of technological advances, since technical programs in correctional facilities are few and far-between. This scarcity of preparatory programs undoubtedly contributes to high and rising recidivism rates: More often than not, those who are released from prison eventually return. While working at TEJI, Nisser had a fortuitous meeting with his two co-founders, Marisa Gaetz (a PhD student from MIT's Department of Mathematics) and Emily Harburg (co-founder of Brave Initiatives, a nonprofit that develops coding bootcamps for young women).