A team of researchers at the University of Utah was awarded $8 million to launch the nation’s first center dedicated solely to prison education research and leadership.

“It’s huge. I’m not sure it’s completely sunk in yet,” said Erin Castro, co-founder of the Utah Prison Education Project and associate professor of educational leadership and policy at the U.

Castro and her team will use the $8 million awarded by the Ascendium Education Group to establish the Prison Education Action Research Lab (PEARL) to advance educational justice for people and communities impacted by incarceration.

A release from the U. said the lab will serve as a “vital resource” in a growing field in need of the next generation of researchers, leaders and practitioners focused on prison education.

Castro has bee

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