Formerly incarcerated undergraduates at UC Berkeley formed a support group called the Underground Scholars Initiative, as this article in the New Yorker explains. The founders of the group, Steven Czifra and Danny Murillo, have been named 2016 Soros Justice Fellows by the Open Society Foundation, which sponsors fellows to challenge problems with the U.S. criminal justice system and push for change.

‘Steven Czifra will help formerly incarcerated community college students reach their full academic and professional potential by creating a pathway for admission to the University of California, Berkeley.’

‘Danny Murillo will work to empower formerly incarcerated students by creating a network of people throughout California who have successfully made the transition from incarceration to higher education.’

More information is available at the USI website, http://www.undergroundscholars.org/