Panel: Mount Tamalpais College: Education and Community at San Quentin

Alumni of Mount Tamalpais College discuss the role of education in their lives during and post-incarceration, the powerful work happening in classrooms at San Quentin and the importance of community both in prison and post-release. The panel discussion will follow a screening of The Other Side of the Wall, a short film by R.J. Lozada about the friendships forged in the classroom.

This is a hybrid event. Registration is required for Zoom attendance. In-person attendance does not require registration; seats available first come, first served.

Mount Tamalpais College is an academic institution unlike any other in the United States. In 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act barred people incarcerated in the U.S. from receiving Pell Grants. This piece of legislation effectively ended prison higher education across the country, as nearly all of the approximately 350 programs shut down for lack of funds. In the wake of this disaster and, for over 20 years, the Prison University Project was the only on-site degree-granting program in a California prison. For the first two decades of operation, it operated as an extension site of nearby Patten University. The name was changed to Mount Tamalpais College in 2020.

Today, with unprecedented social, political and philanthropic interest, Mount Tamalpais leadership has helped to expand access to higher education—not only at San Quentin, but within California’s prison system and nationwide. In January 2022, after an intensive application and review process, Mount Tamalpais College was granted Initial Accreditation by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), making it the first independent liberal arts institution dedicated specifically to serving incarcerated students.

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