Research
Earlier this month, CPEP staff presented at the two-day symposium Labor, Discipline, and the Carceral State, hosted by Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Executive Director Rob Scott spoke about the post-strike state of the prison system in New York—highlighting a complex moment in which incarceration rates are declining, prisons are closing, and educational…
On April 8, 2026, CPEP hosted a one-day symposium on higher education in prison (HEP) research. The culmination of months of planning, we welcomed more than 120 researchers from across the country to discuss findings from their research on higher education in prison. The program format included formal paper presentations and organized breakout conversations, allowing…
On April 8, 2026, there were two other pre-conference events that ran simultaneous with our HEP Research Symposium: one was a nationwide reentry roundtable featuring CPEP Academic Reentry Director Sarah Cushman, the other was a convening on legal training and legal career pathways for incarcerated learners, featuring Julia Mizutani, Cornell Law Librarian and Adjunct Professor of Law, who…
An afternoon slot on the final day of a conference is rarely ideal for attendance—but that wasn’t the case for our Data-Driven Academic Reentry session. The room was packed, with standing room only, for a panel featuring CPEP’s Sarah Cushman and Tess Pendergrast alongside colleagues from SUNY and CUNY. Sarah and Tess shared how we…