You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
Republican legislators two years ago blocked New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, from an initiative to expand higher education opportunities in the state's prisons. On Sunday, Cuomo was back with another plan to do so, The New York Times reported. Critics of the first plan questioned the idea of using any state money when many law-abiding citizens don't have enough money for college. Cuomo and many others pointed out that prisoners who receive a college education are much less likely than others to commit future crimes.
This time around, Cuomo is proposing that the money come from private sources and about $7.5 million in criminal forfeiture funds that have been paid to the Manhattan district attorney. Cuomo's plan calls for educating about 1,000 prisoners over the next five years.
