The Massachusetts Department of Correction recorded 1,572 educational program completions in the 2025-26 school year, the third consecutive year of growth, the department said in a Nov. 5 announcement. Completions have risen nearly 34 percent since 2023-24.
The department listed these results for the year:
104 high school equivalency diplomas through the HiSET program
90 college degrees and certificates, including bachelor's and associate degrees
886 ServSafe and OSHA certificates earned on DOC-issued tablets
93 vocational training programs completed
The release does not say how those categories relate to the 1,572 total.
College-level course offerings reached a record 151, the sixth straight year of growth. Incarcerated people logged 672,664 hours with educational content on the tablets.
The department described several partnerships. The Boston College Prison Education Program expanded to MCI-Framingham, where 11 students enrolled in a bachelor's degree program in 2026. A graduate certificate program with Emerson College is planned for MCI-Norfolk in 2027. In June, Mount Wachusett Community College celebrated its first nine associate degree graduates at North Central Correctional Institution in Gardner. The department also lists Babson College, Boston University, Bunker Hill Community College, Massasoit Community College, Tufts University and Franklin Cummings Institute, working with MIT's Educational Justice Institute, among its higher-education partners.
DOC Commissioner Shawn Jenkins said the collaboration reduces recidivism and strengthens reentry outcomes. The release does not include recidivism figures or completion counts for earlier years, and the numbers are the department's own. The department says the education work advances a goal of its five-year strategic plan, the Align Initiative, by expanding access to credentials and skill-building aimed at reentry.