Gov. Andrew Cuomo defended the plan he announced last weekend at a caucus of black and Hispanic political leaders to provide college degree programs for prison inmates, arguing that is a responsible decision that makes the most fiscal sense, State of Politics writes:
"It costs about $5,000 a year to provide educational services to that person in prison," Cuomo said. "The recidivism rate goes from about to half to 4 percent."
But state Republicans are protesting, claiming providing higher education to inmates is unfair and even have begun circulating petitions in opposition of the proposal.
In fact, on Thursday, GOP Rep. Chris Collins said he would introduce legislation on a national level that would block any federal aid to college prison programs at the state level.