On the first day of his senior year last fall, Kenny Butler woke up at 4am.

He took a bike ride through the campus of Pitzer College, past the dining hall, the pool,

the lecture hall where he'd have class several hours later.

Kenny posted a video of this bike ride on Facebook.

Ready or not, even though it was his senior year, it was actually the first day Kenny had

ever gone to class on campus.

Because until then, he had gone to class in prison.

He spent 15 years inside a medium facility prison in Norco, California.

And while he was inside, he and seven other students started their bachelor's degrees.

I just been pushing, taking six and seven classes, semester and change my whole mind frame about life and general.

Kenny put in the work, but someone had to give him the chance.

He benefited from a privately funded program that helped cover the cost of his education and gave him the ability to continue it once he got out.

Those programs are not widely available, but next year, for the first time in decades, the federal government will open up eligibility for

pell grants to people in prison.

That could mean hundreds of thousands of people make it the opportunity that Kenny and his classmates got.

A lot of guys see me walking around, know me from my path, like, and they see me with all these books all the time.

I'm like a walking dictionary right here.

Consider this. Getting a degree behind bars is a very rare opportunity.

That's about to change.

An expert say, when you help people get a degree in prison, they are less likely to wind up back inside.

From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. It's Tuesday, June 28.

This message comes from NPR sponsor Chevrolet, introducing the 2022 Bolt EUV.

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