For nearly 20 years, prisoners in Maine have been taking college classes for credit. Hundreds have graduated with associate, baccalaureate and even advanced degrees.

It all started with an endowment from philanthropist Doris Buffet and her Sunshine Lady Foundation. Additional grants paved the way for the supervised use of laptops. And Maine is now the first state to offer remote work from prison.

Forty-five residents have been hired by outside companies to do remote jobs from their cells. A few are earning more than corrections officers.

As part of this trend, a group of women are taking a coding class in the Maine Correctional Center. It's a pilot project that administrators want to continue because of the way its changing prisoners' expectations for their own success.

The day she was

See Full Page