The final webinar in this series focuses on postsecondary education delivered inside correctional facilities, including programs supported by Second Chance Pell funding. Incarcerated students retain the same full FERPA protections as traditional campus-based learners, yet the secure, technology-limited environment of correctional facilities creates distinctive compliance challenges that demand specialized approaches.
Key topics include:
- The learner-centered protection framework: prioritizing incarcerated students’ safety, dignity, and autonomy
- Structuring Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) between postsecondary institutions and Departments of Corrections to clearly delineate FERPA responsibilities, data-sharing protocols, and school official designations
- Distinguishing education records maintained by the institution from records maintained solely by the DOC for security or incarceration purposes
- How academic disciplinary records differ from DOC facility sanctions under FERPA
- Adapting standard student rights procedures, including record access, amendment requests, and annual notifications, to correctional settings with mail delays, restricted materials, and no digital access
- Directory information disclosure risks specific to correctional environments and conservative institutional approaches for managing them
- Mandatory FERPA training for DOC personnel designated as school officials
- Annual auditing and recordkeeping requirements specific to Prison Education Program operations
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