Contacts:You can contact the CCISE at [email protected]. You can email the director of the Chillon Project, Brendan Ozawa-de Silva, at [email protected] or the program coordinator, Thomas Fabisiak, at [email protected].
Program Description: The Chillon Project is an undertaking of Life University’s Center for Compassion, Integrity, and Secular Ethics (CCISE) to offer full associate and bachelor’s degree programs in Georgia correctional facilities. The program also provides scholarships to correctional staff and returning citizens, and our research team studies the impact of higher education in prison on individuals and communities.
Degrees Offered:Associate of Arts in Positive Human Development and Social Change (PHDSC). We plan to offer a Bachelor of Arts in PHDSC after the second year of the program.
Programs Offered:
Unique Features: The distinctive features of the program include the scholarships that we offer to correctional staff and returning citizens, as well as our intensive focus on research. The degree program in Positive Human Development and Social Change (PHDSC), which is also offered on Life’s main campus, is another feature that sets the program apart. The PHDSC degree combines coursework in psychology, business and entrepreneurship, social theory, peace studies, and contemplative studies. Employing a number of innovative practice labs, it brings together a rigorous liberal arts education with the first-person cultivation of secular ethics (basic human inner values) and the development of skills for promoting human, social, and environmental flourishing.
Headquarters:Marietta, GA
Correctional Facilities Served:Arrendale State Prison, a mixed security facility that houses 1700 women in Alto, Georgia
Population Served:Women of all security levels, correctional staff at the facility, and returning citizens who were incarcerated at Arrendale.
Number of Students:The first class of 15 incarcerated students will enroll in July 2016. We offer five full and ten half scholarships to correctional staff and six half scholarships to returning citizens.
Graduates to Date: N/A
Year Founded:2016
Founders:N/A
College/University/Organization Partnerships:Life University
Funding:The program is privately funded by the Laughing Gull Foundation, Life University, and individual donors.
Project Evaluation:The Chillon Project’s Research and Evaluation Team, managed by the CCISE, will measure program success and contribute to the growing body of data nationwide related to higher education in prisons. This data will focus not only on issues of recidivism, but also on the broader benefits of higher education to incarcerated students, such as improved health and well-being and changes in behavior and outlook.