{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://dean.house.gov/2026/9/congresswoman-dean-senator-schatz-reintroduce-bill-to-expand-education-opportunities-support-reentry-for-incarcerated-individuals", "Congresswoman Dean, Senator Schatz Reintroduce Bill to Expand Education Opportunities, Support Reentry for Incarcerated Individuals", "2026-09-24", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "PA", "Madeleine Dean", "D000631", "dean.house.gov", "dean", "https://dean.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Congressman Kweisi Mfume (MD-07), and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) reintroduced the Promoting Reentry through Education in Prisons (PREP) Act to establish an Office of Prison Education within the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to ensure that incarcerated individuals receive the education needed to successfully reenter their communities after completing their sentences. Congresswoman Dean previously introduced this bicameral legislation in 2023, 2021, and 2019.\n\nProviding incarcerated individuals with the resources to effectively reintegrate into society upon release can dramatically reduce recidivism. Two-thirds of formerly incarcerated individuals are rearrested within three years; however, incarcerated people who participated in educational programs had a 43 percent lower recidivism rate than those who did not receive such opportunities. The PREP Act would standardize educational opportunities and workforce training across federal and state facilities to support incarcerated individuals as they prepare for reentry.\n\n\u201cWhen someone gets a second change, we must ensure that they have the education, training, and resources to seize it \u2014 for themselves, their families, and their communities,\u201d Rep. Dean said. \u201cEducation is a powerful tool in helping to reduce recidivism and guide formerly incarcerated individuals as they forge meaningful lives. I\u2019m grateful for Senator Schatz's continued partnership on the PREP Act as we work to ensure success in reentry.\u201d\n\nSpecifically, the PREP Act:\n\nEstablishes an Office of Prison Education within the Bureau of Prisons to standardize educational programs across all federal prisons, ensuring that BOP provides educational services for adult literacy, GED, postsecondary, workforce readiness, apprenticeships, career and technical education, and expanded opportunities for individuals with learning disabilities;\n\nEstablishes the Federal Prison Education Program to create partnerships between federal correctional facilities and education providers to create quality programs that promote successful community reintegration;\n\nTrains and assists state and local correctional institutions to provide training and technical assistance to state and local correctional institutions that implement similar education programs; and\n\nNotifies veterans of their eligibility to access education benefits and available programs in their federal or state correctional facility.\n\nRead the full text of the bill here.\n\nRep. Madeleine Dean is a mother, grandmother, attorney, professor, former four-term member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and U.S. Representative for the Fourth District of Pennsylvania.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-29T11:07:12Z", "2026-09-29T11:08:49Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://dean.house.gov/2026/9/congresswoman-dean-senator-schatz-reintroduce-bill-to-expand-education-opportunities-support-reentry-for-incarcerated-individuals"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8879620581865311, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}