Educating for transformation
The Calvin Prison Initiative (CPI) is more than an educational program. Compelled by our Christian values, CPI focuses on character and leadership development as well as moral rehabilitation.
We believe each person is created in the image of God, and all people deserve dignity and respect, including incarcerated individuals. By providing our students with an excellent education and significant opportunities, we affirm their identity and value as human beings and fellow image bearers.
All people are called to be agents of renewal in God’s world. For CPI, we are called to seek restorative justice and the rehabilitation of incarcerated individuals within Michigan state prisons. Through our program, we hope to challenge and inspire graduates to act as agents of renewal in their communities both inside and outside of the prison walls.
Our story
The spark
In 2005, Calvin Theological Seminary (CTS) was given funds to have faculty and seminary students visit and tour the Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angola), the largest maximum security prison in the United States. Twenty years ago, Angola was known as one of the bloodiest prisons in America. When Burl Cain became the prison’s warden, he knew something had to change. In an attempt to reduce violence in Angola, a local seminary was granted permission to teach classes within the prison walls. Since its installation, this educational program has reduced rates of violence by an astounding 80 percent.
The impressive success of educational programs at Angola quickly inspired Calvin Theological Seminary to get involved within the Michigan prison system. Around the same time, the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) had noticed the transformative work occurring in Angola and other places like it. During the early stages of interest, God provided a connection between the MDOC and CTS: Dan Heyns.
Dan Heyns, who was the director of MDOC at the time, was the grandson of Garrett Heyns, the first recipient of Calvin University’s Distinguished Alumni Award. This unexpected family connection pulled the doors of the Michigan prison system wide open and allowed CTS to begin offering a few unaccredited seminary courses at Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan.
A growing mission
After several years of offering these courses, Calvin Theological Seminary wanted to begin a fully accredited college degree program for these men behind bars. In order to get an undergraduate program off the ground, several key pieces had to fall in place: accreditation from Calvin University, written grant proposals, connections with donors, and established relationships with the leaders of the MDOC and Handlon Correctional Facility.
Once these pieces came together, a fully accredited program was offered, and the Calvin Prison Initiative (CPI) was born.
Calvin is helping me fulfill my mission in life. It’s marvelous the act of grace that they did for us.” Patrick (CPI graduate)
Real education
The Calvin Prison Initiative began in the fall of 2015 with its first cohort of 20 students. Each school year, CPI accepts 20 to 25 incarcerated individuals from various Michigan state prison to its program. Men who are interested in CPI apply to the program and, if accepted, are transferred to the Handlon Correctional Facility.
Students in the CPI program typically take eight to nine courses each school year. Because CPI is accredited through Calvin University, their coursework contains a robust liberal arts core. Students take courses in a variety of disciplines such as English, psychology, history, philosophy, social work, communication and more. By the end of five years, students will have earned a certificate in Faith and Community Leadership, a certificate in Liberal Arts and Sciences, and a bachelor of arts degree with double majors in Faith and Community Leadership and Human Services.
A program with purpose
By giving incarcerated individuals educational opportunities, CPI hopes to help reform and reshape prison culture. Studies show that prison education programs significantly lower rates of inmate violence and reduce the likelihood of recidivism once an individual is released from prison. In CPI’s first year, 100 percent of students passed every course with a class grade point average (GPA) of 3.6. These numbers are promising. CPI hopes this educational success will lower rates of inmate violence and recidivism at Handlon.
…I put my application in, answered a few essay questions, and then prayed about it. Two months later, I was on the phone with my mom when a corrections officer handed me a letter. I was nervous…but my mom told me to go ahead and do it. When I opened it my heart skipped a beat: I was accepted! My eyes filled with tears as my mom cried on the other end. She and my father told me something that I haven’t heard from them in so long, ‘I’m proud of you, son.’” CPI student
Uniting hearts and minds
The efforts of CPI are primarily intended to benefit and rehabilitate the lives of incarcerated individuals; however, the impact of CPI reaches beyond the inmates it serves. Faculty from several colleges in West Michigan serve as professors in the program, and students from Calvin University are given the unique opportunity to tutor the inmates. Those who have witnessed the CPI program in action and participated in its transformative work have walked away changed.
Finding community
We believe God is redeeming even the darkest places of society. There is no corner of creation that cannot be touched by the power of the gospel. By attempting to transform prison culture, we hope to not only restore peace and shalom within prisons, but also within our local neighborhoods and communities.