Mike Pierce, a former inmate who earned his bachelor’s degree while incarcerated, is currently studying at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for an online master’�s education. Despite this, he is technically in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections and has been on work release since June 2024. Despite research showing that education increases outcomes for people returning from prison, there are barriers to obtaining a college education. An estimated three out of four colleges and universities nationally ask about criminal history during the admissions process, and in Illinois, 10 of the 12 public universities ask at some point. Ashton Klekamp, who leads policy and research at the Education Justice Project, said that the screening process does not support the goals it claims to. Despite attempts to ban the criminal history box in higher education admissions, these attempts have failed.