Red and Blue Long Distance Birthday Email Header (3).png

Program Updates:

  • Summer 2021

    • Second Chance Pell AA Courses: Offered in collaboration with Seattle Central College, available to all 70 students enrolled in our degree pathway!

      • ENVS 160: Principles of Environmental Sustainability - Explores past and present contributions from major events and leaders to the sustainability movement. Principles of sustainability are used to analyze action on challenges such as urbanization, climate change, food systems and pollution

      • ENGL 102: Composition II - Continuation of the composition sequence with further instruction and practice in the writing process, concentrating on critical reading and writing techniques needed for the preparation and completion of documented essays

      • MATH 107: Math in Society - Designed to enhance mathematics literacy. Instructors choose college-level topics centered around a theme such as Environmental Math, History of Math, or General Topics in Math.

  • Spring 2021

    • According to the Department of Corrections, as of March 2021 WSR is no longer in “outbreak status” and cases inside have begun to level out after around 500 individuals at WSR tested positive for COVID-19. A recent statewide mandate has also introduced “cohorting” which means incarcerated individuals throughout Washington state are only able to interact with individuals in their own living units in order to mitigate the spread of the virus. Subsequently, UBB has begun developing plans for restoring our face-to-face programming in upcoming quarters. Unfortunately, we are unable to resume face-to-face classes as early as spring so we are looking ahead to summer and fall. 

  • Winter 2021:

    • OUTBREAK AT MCC: As of December 25th, half of the living units at WSR were placed under quarantine due to COVID-19. In a matter of days positive cases in the facility jumped from ~70 cases to 205 cases. Due to the increase of COVID-19 cases in the prison, we made the difficult decision to postpone our Winter quarter courses until we can be back in the facility with greater dependability so we can provide a better learning experience with students in a safer and more stable context. 

  • Fall 2020 offerings:

    • Second Chance Pell AA Courses: Offered in collaboration with Seattle Central College, available to all 70 students enrolled in our degree pathway!

      • ENGL 101: English Composition

      • POLS 255: Intro to Political Economy

    • BA Level Distance Learning Courses: Accredited through Adams State University

      • ENGL 355: The Novel

    • Study Halls: Each credit bearing class offered this quarter will meet once weekly for study hall to support students in these courses and to provide opportunities for a collaborative learning environment. All study halls are being sponsored by UBB staff (social distancing protocols apply).

    • Fall 2020 Community Read Project: This quarter our community of volunteers and incarcerated students will be reading Until We Reckon by Danielle Sered.

  • Summer 2020 offerings:

    • Self-Care Course Pack - Open to the entire prison population, this course pack was developed in collaboration with Collective Justice to help strengthen understands of, and practices of self-care.

    • Credit Bearing Distance Learning Courses: Offered to 13 students with 60 or more credits toward their Associates Degree.

      • Meteorology 101: Intro to Meteorology

      • ENGL 101: English Composition

      • PHIL 120: Symbolic Logic

    • Study Hall: This summer UBB will be offering a supported learning space for students enrolled in credit bearing courses to complete their coursework. This is offered weekly and is sponsored by UBB staff (social distancing protocols apply).

  • Spring 2020 offerings:

    • Course packs to students enrolled in 7 enrichment (non-credit-bearing) courses.

    • ENGL 112: Intro to Fiction, a self-paced, AA degree class for students who are in need of either an elective or VLPA class and who have earned more than 50 credits toward their degree. 13 students have already enrolled in this class!

    • UBB’s first Community Read Project! Our incarcerated students and our outside community will be reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and engaging in a correspondence based book club. We encourage anyone interested in participating to purchase a copy and read along with us. (April 17th, 2020)

  • Due to the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, UBB staff, board of directors, and our partners at SCC, have decided to postpone all credit-bearing classes for the Spring Quarter in order to prioritize the health and safety of our community. (March 23rd, 2020)

    • While the University of Washington and Seattle Central College have options for students and instructors to utilize remote learning approaches during the spring quarter, these approaches are more difficult to administer inside the prison environment due to our limits with technology and our need for face-to-face instruction. We are working on developing alternative teaching and learning approaches to reduce the interruptions on students’ learning experiences and academic progress.

  • UBB has suspended all programming indefinitely after a DOC staff person at Monroe Correctional Complex-Washington State Reformatory (MCC-WSR) tested positive for COVID-19. (March 13th, 2020)

    • UBB’s mission is to empower prisoners to fulfill their potential through communities of higher learning that transcend prison walls. We will continue to strive towards this, despite the challenges that COVID-19 presents.

For more information please see Links below:

Resources/ways to get involved: