In 1994, over 350 college programs in prisons were shut down throughout the nation. In that year, President Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act into law, which included a provision that denied incarcerated men and women access to Pell Grants. This federal tuition assistance program, previously available to all low-income persons, supported most college-in-prison programs. New York State, like most other states, soon thereafter withdrew its financial support for college in prisons as well, and effectively ended all higher education for men and women in prison across the state. At one facility, the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility (BHCF), a maximum-security prison for women located in Westchester County, New York State, college-in-prison was reintroduced in 1997 by a consortium of private colleges and universities, involved community members, the Superintendent and a dedicated Inmate Committee. Changing Minds reports empirically on the effects of that college program on its students and the prison environment. The analysis focuses on the impact of college on women while inside prison; the effects of college on the prison environment; the effects of college on other inmates; the effects of a mother’s college experience on her children and the long term effects of college on the economic, social and civic engagements of women once released from prison. Given the precarious state of higher education within prison facilities, it is important to document the consequences of current public policy that does not support college in prison and to evaluate the costs and benefits of a college program broadly available to prisoners within a maximum-security facility.21,22 At the moment, neither the Federal government nor any State governments will pay for higher education in prison, with the exception of some recent funding for youthful offenders.23 The subject of this study, the College Bound program at BHCF, is a fully volunteer effort, initiated and sustained through the generosity and commitments of a set of private colleges and universities, the prison administration, community volunteers and inmate vision and energy. No public dollars support this project. A volunteer effort is powerful, but ultimately vulnerable. In the midst of national conversations about prison reform, education in prison and transitions out of prison, this report reintroduces the debate about college-in-prison to the public agenda.24