It’s the time of the year when EJP reviews applications from individuals hoping to join our program at Danville Correctional Center. Every spring, EJP starts a new admissions cycle. We typically accept approximately 20 incoming students, with notices of acceptance going out in May. It can feel life-changing to some individuals when, after pursuing their education behind bars for years, they finally reach the milestone of being accepted into EJP. 

In order to join EJP, an applicant must have completed 40 academic credit hours of lower-division course work and be housed at Danville prison. We do not limit anyone based on the length of their sentence or conviction record. No essay or personal statement is required, nor references. Applicants need only official transcripts showing they have obtained the 40 required hours of college credit. It can be difficult for a person incarcerated to get access to official transcripts, so if necessary EJP can request them. It’s important to note that the 40 hours must be classified as academic credit hours. The University of Illinois does not accept vocational credits, e.g. from horticultural or culinary classes. 

Since 2008, we have accepted over 500 students into the University of Illinois programs and classes we offer at Danville Correctional Center. 

Unfortunately, we receive a relatively small number of applications every year, primarily because so few people incarcerated in the Illinois Department of Corrections meet the university’s requirements. Many  did not have access to educational opportunities before they were incarcerated. Individuals can earn credits by taking classes from Lake Land College or Augustana College, two colleges among a small handful in Illinois that have prison education programs. Our applicants at Danville typically have taken classes offered by Eastern Illinois University or Danville Area Community College, both of which have programs at that facility. It may take students several years of hard work and persistence before they can earn 40 credits and gain entrance into EJP.  

Steven Scotti remembers when he first found out he was accepted into EJP. He had received a transfer to Danville prison with the hope of joining the program. He was “very vigilant,” he says, in learning about the admissions process. He submitted transcripts of his course work and talked to EJP Director Rebecca Ginsburg. Scotti recalls fondly, “One day, a pass came in the mail. I was accepted into the program!!! I don’t think there was anything I wanted more. I remember feeling that ‘I had arrived.’” 

Today, Scotti is a free man but he still remains connected to EJP as a 2024-25 EJP Alumni Fellow, a member of the EJP Advisory Council, and Reentry Resource Program Advisory Committee. “Some things were just meant to be,” says Scotti, “EJP was definitely one of them.” 

The admissions process is currently overseen by Jessica Thornton, EJP’s Interim Academic Manager and Ph.D. candidate in accounting at the University of Illinois.  

“We are grateful to be able offer University of Illinois classes to this population of incarcerated persons,” said Thornton. “As a land-grant institution, it is the mission of the university to make education accessible to all Illinois residents — regardless of their background or current circumstances. The work that EJP does is aligned with this agenda.”  

Once the new cohort is accepted, they take a mandatory reading group in the summer taught by EJP Director Rebecca Ginsburg where students get an orientation to the program and brush up their close reading skills. Then they are ready to register for fall semester courses.  

Stay tuned for more. In the coming months we’ll introduce you to members of the incoming cohort.