{"id":13351,"date":"2018-08-21T04:20:58","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T04:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=13351"},"modified":"2018-08-22T04:23:26","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T04:23:26","slug":"i-went-from-prison-to-professor-heres-why-criminal-records-should-not-be-used-to-keep-people-out-of-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/i-went-from-prison-to-professor-heres-why-criminal-records-should-not-be-used-to-keep-people-out-of-college\/","title":{"rendered":"I went from prison to professor \u2013 here’s why criminal records should not be used to keep people out of college"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stanley Andrisse<\/a>, Howard University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Beginning next year, the Common Application<\/a> \u2013 an online form that enables students to apply to the 800 or so colleges that use it \u2013 will no longer ask students about their criminal pasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a formerly incarcerated person who now is now an endocrinologist and professor at two world-renowned medical institutions \u2013 Johns Hopkins Medicine and Howard University College of Medicine \u2013 I believe this move is a positive one. People\u2019s prior convictions should not be held against them in their pursuit of higher learning.<\/p>\n

While I am enthusiastic about the decision to remove the criminal history question from the Common Application, I also believe more must be done to remove the various barriers that exist between formerly incarcerated individuals such as myself and higher education.<\/p>\n

I make this argument not only as a formerly incarcerated person who now teaches aspiring medical doctors, but also as an advocate for people with criminal convictions<\/a>. The organization I lead – From Prison Cells to PhD \u2013 helped push<\/a> for the change on the Common Application.<\/p>\n

My own story stands as a testament to the fact that today\u2019s incarcerated person could become tomorrow\u2019s professor. A person who once sold illegal drugs on the street could become tomorrow\u2019s medical doctor. But this can only happen if such a person, and the many others in similar situations, are given the chance.<\/p>\n

There was a time not so long ago when some in the legal system believed I did not deserve a chance. With three felony convictions, I was sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug trafficking as a prior and persistent career criminal. My prosecuting attorney once stated that I had no hope for change<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today, I am Dr. Stanley Andrisse. As a professor at Johns Hopkins and Howard University, I now help train students who want to be doctors. I\u2019d say that I have changed. Education was transformative.<\/p>\n

US incarceration rates the highest<\/h2>\n

The United States needs to have more of this transformative power of education. The country incarcerates more people and at a higher rate<\/a> than any other nation in the world. The U.S. accounts for less than 5 percent of the world population but nearly 25 percent of the incarcerated population around the globe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Roughly 2.2 million people<\/a> in the United States are essentially locked away in cages. About 1 in 5<\/a> of those people are locked up for drug offenses.<\/p>\n

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