Princeton University Donates Laptops To New Jersey Correctional Facilities

Study in US: These laptops were donated as part of the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP). It will be used in two state prisons.

Princeton University has donated around 52 laptop computers to the New Jersey Department of Corrections. The two-state prisons will be using these laptops and related equipment like printers and headsets to increase digital literacy and support higher education for incarcerated individuals.

The key member of NJ-STEP is the Prison Teaching Initiative (PTI). NJ-STEP and PTI said, each laptop and related equipment will travel as the mobile computer lab on a cart.

"These labs, which will be used by incarcerated undergraduates across New Jersey, represent a vital step in preparing our students for the 21st-century job markets and campuses that they will return to,” said PTI Director Jill Stockwell.

NJDOC Commissioner Victoria L. Kuhn commented, “It’s mornings like these that really help recharge the batteries and remind us of why we do the work that we do. Education is a critical component of our corrections community.”

Princeton Provost Jen Rexford, a decorated computer scientist commented, “Computer literacy is critical to the education of people in the 21st century. The mobile computer labs will enable the incarcerated students to learn really valuable skills to enable them to take the next step in their education and work and enable their families and their communities to thrive.”

Princeton’s Alumni Community Provided Financial Resources For Donation

Around 300 incarcerated undergraduate students at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women and the East Jersey State Prison will get the benefits of this donation. It will help them to build knowledge and digital literacy skills.

“We can’t wait for our incarcerated students to get to work on these computers. They’ll be researching their senior theses, they’ll be learning [computer] programs, they’ll be practising their language skills and they’ll be revising and writing essays. And in all of this, they’ll be gaining the skill set that they will need to head in the direction of their dreams,” said Stockwell.

Chris Agans, executive director of NJ-STEP, said, “We’ve served over 3,000 students, many of whom are now home thriving, entering the workforce, reunited with their families, even leading in times of social change."

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