SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Leadership in Education
This article is part of the Research TopicRacial Equity and the Organization: An Educational Change Call to ActionView all 8 articles
Second Chances: Understanding the Racialized Barriers Facing Formerly Incarcerated Students in Higher Education
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, United States
- 2Texas A&M University-San Antonio, San Antonio, United States
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Abstract The higher education system in the United States mirrors broader societal inequalities for formerly incarcerated people who seek to apply and attend US colleges and universities. This conceptual paper employs Ray's theory of racialized organizations to explore how structural barriers facing formerly incarcerated students with a particular focus on Black men who are disproportionately represented in both the criminal justice and higher education systems. Utilizing Ray's core tenets, diminished agency, the legitimatization of unequal distribution of resources, whiteness as a credential, and a racialized decoupling of formal rules from organizational practice, we analyze how higher education institutions function as racialized spaces impacting this population in admission practices, financial aid restrictions, academic readiness, campus climate, stigmas and mental health support. We conclude with implications for institutional accountability and recommendations to support this population as we argue that without shifting policies and practices, institutions will continue to perpetuate barriers rather than offer a second chance for formerly incarcerated Black men.
Keywords: Black men, formerly incarcerated students, Higher education access, Racialized organizations, reentry
Received: 08 Jul 2025; Accepted: 23 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Ford, Malone and Lowery. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jesse R. Ford
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