Recently, Stateville Correctional Center hosted a graduation ceremony for 16 students who earned their Bachelor of Science degrees in Social Sciences through an educational partnership with Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP). The students were presented with diplomas during the history-making ceremony inside Stateville’s theater, attended by family and friends of the students, Northwestern faculty, IDOC leadership, government officials, and current NPEP students. The commencement marked the first cohort of individuals in custody in the United States to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from a top-ten university. Launched in 2018, NPEP was the first program to offer a comprehensive, degree-granting liberal arts curriculum to incarcerated students in Illinois. In partnership with Oakton College and the Illinois Department of Corrections, NPEP offers an Associate of General Studies degree conferred by Oakton Community College. Upon completion of this degree, students are eligible to apply to Northwestern University for a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in social sciences from Northwestern’s School of Professional Studies. Northwestern admitted this inaugural class of NPEP students in January 2022 after they completed coursework required to receive associate degrees from Oakton College. Applications for NPEP are available to incarcerated men across the state of Illinois. All NPEP courses are credit-bearing and taught by faculty members at Northwestern and Oakton and by advanced graduate students at Northwestern with content and expectation equivalent to those on the Chicago, Des Plaines, Evanston, and Skokie campuses.