The Hope-Western Prison Education Program will hold its first Commencement on Wednesday, June 25, celebrating the graduation of nine men who have earned degrees while incarcerated at Muskegon Correctional Facility.
With the 1 p.m. ceremony taking place at the prison, in-person attendance is limited to the graduates and pre-determined guests that will include family members and program faculty. In addition, however, it will be livestreamed to a concurrent celebration in Holland hosted by the college鈥檚 Office of Alumni and Family Engagement in the Concert Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts. The ceremony will last about an hour.
The public is invited to the livestream celebration. Admission is free.
The commencement address will be by Dr. Fred Johnson, who is the Guy Vander Jagt 鈥�53 Professor of History at Hope. Johnson, who has been a member of the college鈥檚 faculty since 2000, has been teaching in Muskegon through HWPEP since 2022.
The nine men at the prison are among 11 who are graduating through HWPEP in 2025. Two of HWPEP鈥檚 students were paroled in December 2024 and began taking classes in Holland this past spring. They participated in the college鈥檚 Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 4, at Ray and Sue Smith Stadium in anticipation of completing their coursework in December.
The graduations are milestones for the program, but HWPEP co-director Kary Bosma especially values what they mean for the graduates.
鈥淭hese students have worked incredibly hard to earn this degree and are deservedly proud of their achievement,鈥� Bosma said. 鈥淭hey were pioneers among their incarcerated peers, pursuing a college education before the opportunity was widely available. They supported one another to ensure each classmate succeeded. Several have even become an inspiration to family members, who have decided to pursue higher education because they watched their loved one successfully complete one semester after another. Most importantly, the graduates鈥� participation in a Christian liberal arts education has transformed them into thoughtful, purposeful, engaged members of their communities.鈥�
Hope College and Western Theological Seminary created HWPEP to provide a Christian liberal arts education to men at the prison to make a difference not only in the trajectory of their lives, but to those around them 鈥� including in the prison system. As shared on the HWPEP website, studies nationwide have found a 43% reduction in recidivism among parolees who participate in prison education programs; a 13% increase in post-release employment for parolees who participate in prison education programs; a 70% reduction in misconduct incidents; and improved safety and positive culture of prisons.
The impact of the HWPEP has been observed by James Schiebner, warden of Muskegon Correctional Facility. 鈥淭his facility over the last three years has changed behavior-wise. We have very low critical incident rates. We have low misconduct rates. We鈥檙e doing something right. It鈥檚 not just a college program running within Muskegon Correctional Facility, I view it as a true partnership between Hope [College] and Western [Theological Seminary] with us [the Michigan Department of Corrections]. I鈥檓 a firm believer that this is what needs to happen.鈥�
HWPEP began as a pilot initiative in March 2019 with non-credit courses. In the fall of 2021, the Higher Learning Commission, which is the college鈥檚 accreditor, provided formal approval of Muskegon Correctional Facility as an 鈥渁dditional location鈥� to the Hope campus and to include incarcerated students among the student body.
The students are recruited from among the 31,000 male prisoners in the 26-prison system operated by MDOC. Prospective students apply to the college and, if accepted, they are moved to the Muskegon Correctional Facility. HWPEP enrolled 12 students in for-credit courses in the fall of 2021 and will enroll 66 students this year, and is building toward a total ongoing enrollment of 80.
The students at Muskegon Correctional Facility take classes full-time with the same program of general education as required of traditional students who are on the Holland campus, with courses in mathematics and natural science, fine arts, humanities and social sciences. The instruction at the prison is by multiple members of the Hope and Western faculty.
The graduates earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hope with a major in faith, leadership and service, a course of study that combines religion, ministry, leadership and social sciences. Graduates whose incarceration continues will have the opportunity to serve as tutors employed by the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) and work with either HWPEP or other prison-education programs in the state.
The Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts that will host the livestream on June 25 is located at 221 Columbia Ave., between Ninth and 10th streets. To inquire about accessibility or if you need accommodations to fully participate in the event in Holland, please email accommodations@hope.edu. Updates related to events are posted when available at hope.edu/calendar in the individual listings.
Additional information about the Hope Western Prison Education Program is available at hope.edu/hwpep