Amount Awarded: $25,000
Following a decade of legislative reforms designed to reduce the state's prison population, California stands at a pivotal moment in prison reform as it looks to shift from a widespread reliance on punitive incarceration toward a rehabilitation-focused model (Williams et al., 2024). Informed by visits to prisons in Norway and drawing from international best practices, the California Model seeks to change the culture within the state’s prisons through an emphasis on rehabilitation, education, restorative justice and reentry (CDCR Magazine, 2024). As a part of this initiative, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the prison at San Quentin would be transformed into a model rehabilitation center. After a selective application process, UC Berkeley was chosen to offer a Bachelor of Science degree (BS) in Educational Sciences to currently incarcerated individuals estimated to begin Fall 2026, marking the first opportunity for students at San Quentin to earn a four-year degree. By bringing together scholars from Norway and California through reciprocal site-visits and collaborative research, we aim to establish a productive partnership that will enhance program development and evaluation approaches for Berkeley's San Quentin BS degree program and lay a foundation for international scholarship that contributes to the broader field of education programs and rehabilitation efforts in prisons.