Dekira Wilkerson, staff writer

In the spring of 2026, Berry launched the Higher Education Prison Initiative (HEPI), where professors and a student intern went to Walker State Prison (WSP) and began teaching their initial courses. The initiative was not publicly announced until Sept. 8, 2026, when the initial courses proved successful. Expansion plans for the broader incarcerated community were also announced.

Associate Professor of Sociology and Project Coordinator for HEPI Sarah Allred was first introduced to the idea of educating prisoners in 2007 and founded the initiative at Berry.

“I personally have been teaching a prison-based course for 20 years across town at Floyd County Prison,” Allred said.   When I started out, it was a different pedagogy, a different style of teaching, and it might have been criminology.  It was one year long, and it focused on disability issues and corrections.”

Berry ran the initiative for years, until Covid-19 changed things. The prison could not accommodate given the needs at the time, which was devastating for both sides; Allred would not accept this as the end of the initiative. 

This would lead Berry to diversion programs, which are an alternate sentencing option in many court systems that allow a defendant charged with certain crimes to avoid criminal conviction and instead receive treatment, typically drug or mental health related, while detained. Allred is a board member of the mental health sector for these courts. Since Berry could no longer go to the prison, she brought individuals in the diversion program to Berry and continued the initiative.

While running this version of the initiative, a past student, now the head of the GED program at WSP, reached out to Allred. This student was inspired by Allred’s course and wanted to collaborate with Berry. Allred reached out to the Warden Deputy of WSP Anna Whitten, and they began to correspond with each other to make this possible.

 It was not only their efforts, but a joint effort involving the Warden Jeanier Kasper, Provost David Slade, Legal Counsel Danny Price and Dean of Humanities Kristen Taylor. Before proceeding with anything, Allred wanted to secure the support of Taylor, who with no question supported the initiative. 

After evaluating WSP’s willingness toward and leadership for the initiative, Slade was eager for Berry to be involved, but funding was a pending question.

“This initiative was not to be funded by taking anything away from Berry students; the funding had to be through philanthropy; this was very important,” said Allred. “I was asked to be on the board of a nonprofit, the Georgia Coalition for Higher Education in Prison (GCHEP).”

GCHEP, which helps people develop programs to strengthen access to higher education for people currently and formerly incarcerated, funded the money to cover the students’ books and their Berry tuition. 

Allred highlighted finding more funding, and more faculty for the programme, as this past spring, they had 100 WSP inmates apply for the program, but they could only afford to admit 20 inmates.

This introduced the intern model; one student intern who works closely with the professor to conduct the class together.

“The intern model enhances the gratitude and appreciation [from the inmates] for being treated like college students,” Allred said.

When given the choice between a final paper or final exam, Berry students are typically jumping for joy to get the chance to choose, but student inmates, according to Allred, were upset over being given this option.

“One student felt very anxious and one of the guards told me that this is what the institutionalised mindset bears,” Allred said.

 Every aspect for the inmates is pre-determined for them and when a person has spent so long in a controlled environment, they lose the ability to function independently. This is the reality for a lot of the student inmates, however, being in the classroom with regular coursework challenging you to use your intellectual thought, combats this. 

This initiative is a prime example of Berry’s mission, values and strategic plan. The mission is to educate the head, heart and hands, serve local communities, open doors and provide quality education. 

“This initiative reinforces Berry’s values of loving one’s neighbor well and educating the whole,” Slade said.

 Last spring, the initiative celebrated the completion of its first semester. All the students involved in the initiative were given completion certificates, and for many faculty members involved behind the scenes, this was the first time they had stepped foot in the facility.

“We don’t know the stories of these people, but we could tell they were motivated to learn,” Slade said.