The Center for Justice at UCLA, in collaboration with the Bruin Underground Scholars (BUS) and the UCLA Prison Education Program (PEP), invites you to attend BEYOND THE BARS LA (BTB LA)  — our third national conference — taking place on Friday and Saturday, November 3-4, 2023. This hybrid event is free to those who RSVP. Space is limited!

The purpose of this conference is to showcase the power of higher education in ending mass incarceration and reducing the return rate to prison, which are necessary factors to Bring Us Home.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, California’s average recidivism rate is 65%. Recidivism drops to 13.7% with the completion of an associate’s degree. Bachelor’s degrees reduce recidivism further to 5.6%. 0% of formerly incarcerated individuals who receive master’s degrees return to prison.

This conference centers interdisciplinary approaches to prison education, abolition, and decarceration as decolonization. The conference will include a series of dynamic presentations from justice-centered organizations and academics from across the country.