What is FEPPS?

FEPPS graduation

Freedom Education Project Puget Sound (FEPPS) provides a rigorous liberal arts college program to women, transgender, and gender-nonconforming people inside the main women’s prison in Washington state, and supports pathways to higher education and re-entry after release from prison.  FEPPS began in 2012 from the persistence, determination, and desire to learn from people incarcerated at Washington Correctional Center for Women (WCCW), in Gig Harbor, WA.

FEPPS has 70 students working toward an A.A. or B.A. degree and  offers three study halls per week, a film series, monthly lecture series, a monthly faculty and student reading group, and workshops for students.  FEPPS has a Student Advisory Council of 15 students inside WCCW who meet regularly with staff to make program decisions, conduct teacher trainings, mentor new students and oversee new student orientation.

The BA in Liberal Studies

FEPPS had been a Signature Initiative of the university since 2015. In 2019, The Board of Trustees approved a B.A. degree in Liberal Studies for students in the prison, and we admitted the first class of 15 students  in September 2020. The B.A. degree enables students who have completed the A.A. degree in the prison to apply to the University of Puget Sound as a transfer student and receive a B.A. in Liberal Studies while in prison. This is the seventh B.A. program offered in a women’s prison nationally, and the first B.A. program in a prison in Washington State. 
 

We are supported by a  4-year grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

FEPPS infographic
Why College in Prison for Women?
  • 7 out of 10 women return to prison.
  • Education is the single most important factor in breaking the cycle of incarceration. According to a 2013 Rand Corporation study, those who go to college while incarcerated are 43% less likely to return to prison than those who do not.
  • Women are the fastest growing segment of the prison population.
How to get involved

Prof Erzen teaches an experiential learning class called REL 307: Prisons, Gender and Education in which students learn about the history of punishment and incarceration in America. Students spend 3 hours per week in study halls at the Washington Corrections Center for Women with FEPPS students as co-learners and research partners.  This is a KNOW course that is cross-listed in Crime, Law, and Justice Studies, Religious Studies, GQS, Education and Experiential learning.

Selected Media on FEPPS and Crime, Law, and Justice