Unlocking Potential Maine Stae Prison College Programs May Hold the Key

Summary

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Olin Williams was 23 years old when his prison cell door closed behind him in 2001.

"A dumb kid," he calls himself in retrospect. His mistakes cost him 15 years in the Maine State Prison in Warren for an attempted murder conviction. On the outside, Williams worked as a machinist in a factory. A college education seemed far away.

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Unlocking Potential Maine Stae Prison College Programs May Hold the Key

Now, about five years from release, Williams has an associate degree and plans to get his bachelor's degree soon. Williams was one of the first student-prisoners accepted into the Maine State Prison's college program that offers free classes to inmates who want to earn degrees.

He is one of 40 at the prison taking about two courses per semester toward a degree in liberal studies, the only degree program in the prison so far. The college tuition is about $55,000 each semester for all the students combined, plus about $7,000 for books.

Not one penny comes from taxpayer pockets.

Philanthropist Doris Buffett, sister of billionaire Warren Buffett, fully finances the program thr...

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