{"id":6936,"date":"2025-06-18T13:41:46","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T17:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/human-rights-institute\/?page_id=6936"},"modified":"2025-06-18T20:58:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T00:58:50","slug":"ashton-klekamp-l19-expanding-educational-access-for-incarcerated-individuals","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/human-rights-institute\/careers\/hoyas-in-human-rights\/ashton-klekamp-l19-expanding-educational-access-for-incarcerated-individuals\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashton Klekamp (L\u201919): Expanding Educational Access for Incarcerated Individuals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Advancing Higher Ed for System-Impacted Communities<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ashton coordinates collaborative statewide efforts to make higher education more accessible to incarcerated and system-impacted students in support of EJP<\/a>\u2019s mission to build a model college in prison program. EJP is the only college-in-prison program in Illinois and one of very few programs across the country with a dedicated policy and research division<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since joining EJP in 2022, Ashton has built the organization\u2019s policy and research division from the ground up. Her work expands EJP\u2019s mission beyond the classroom\u2014coordinating coalitions, supporting reentry pathways, and driving policy change to dismantle the structural barriers that block access to education for system-impacted students.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the state level, Ashton organizes policy initiatives like the Freedom to Learn Campaign, which pushes for legislation to protect and expand access to higher education in prison. \"\"This includes drafting model bills, supporting enhanced data collection and analysis, and fostering cross-agency collaboration where little had existed before. Within the University of Illinois System, she focuses on internal policy reform\u2014from admissions policies that screen out applicants based on criminal history to hiring practices that marginalize people with records. Through a new initiative called the Prison-to-Gown Pathway, EJP supports formerly incarcerated students pursuing studies at the University of Illinois from application through graduation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But her vision doesn\u2019t stop at policy. A key piece of Ashton\u2019s work is public education\u2014demystifying the policy process and equipping people to advocate for the changes they want to see. \u201cOur students are at the core of everything we do,\u201d she said. \u201cThrough our policy discussion group at Danville Correctional Center, we equip them with the tools to take action on any issue they care about.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Toward Systemic Healing<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ashton Klekamp came to the law through a deep commitment to care, healing, and community. At Pitzer College, she designed her own major in neuropsychology and holistic healing, driven by a desire to create more compassionate approaches to addiction and recovery. \u201cI thought I might work in a research lab and develop better treatments for substance use disorders,\u201d she said. But a volunteer opportunity during her undergraduate years\u2014teaching in a prison classroom\u2014reshaped Ashton\u2019s understanding of systems of power, opportunity, and exclusion. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then a neuroscience major focused on addiction treatment, she quickly noticed a stark disparity. The same struggles that had led her loved ones from white, middle-class backgrounds to outpatient recovery programs were funneling her incarcerated students\u2014most of them people of color\u2014into the criminal legal system. \u201cOnce you\u2019re pulled into the system,\u201d she said, \u201cyou remain sort of in its grasp.\u201d The experience shifted her sense of what kind of change she wanted to pursue. She began to see healing and justice as deeply connected\u2014and she recognized that systems, not just individuals, needed care and transformation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That perspective deepened after college, when Ashton received a Fulbright to study Uganda\u2019s prison system. Unlike researchers who focused on gaps or failures, she was drawn to what the country was doing well: community-based sentencing, reintegration programs, and notably low recidivism. It was during her time in Uganda that she decided to apply to law school. Georgetown, known for its deep commitment to public interest and its leading human rights programming, was her top choice. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t one \u2018aha\u2019 moment,\u201d she said. \u201cI just realized law school could make me a stronger writer, speaker, and advocate\u2014so I could help make the change I care about.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From Learning to Leading<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At Georgetown, Ashton gravitated toward real-world learning experiences\u2014externships, internships, and clinics\u2014that allowed her to engage directly with the issues she cared about. \u201cThose off-campus experiences were valuable,\u201d she explained, \u201cnot just to increase my skills, but to build a network and connect with mentors who had taken their legal degrees in their own direction.\u201d Classroom learning sharpened her critical thinking, but it was through Georgetown\u2019s wealth of exceptional real-world learning opportunities, she said, that she learned how to use those tools in practice.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These experiences also helped her clarify the kind of lawyer she wanted to be. Ashton embraced a movement lawyering approach\u2014one rooted in collaboration with directly impacted communities and guided by the belief that lasting change comes from shifting power, not just policy. Whether through her clinical work, her involvement in reentry programs, or her experiences in other off-campus placements, Ashton stayed closely connected to causes that motivated her. For her, law school wasn\u2019t a pause from that work\u2014it was a chance to develop the practical skills and connections that would strengthen it. After graduating from Georgetown, Ashton secured a two-year fellowship at what is now Impact for Equity in Chicago. There, she worked across issue areas\u2014from supporting treatment courts to advancing public housing litigation\u2014while also helping launch the Illinois Coalition for Higher Education in Prison Programs. The fellowship became a crucial bridge between law school and her long-term goals, allowing her to deepen her policy expertise and strengthen her ties to the community she hoped to serve. When EJP received new funding to build out its policy and research division, Ashton was a natural fit. Her previous coalition work and policy experience helped lay the groundwork for the role she now holds as the division\u2019s director.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shifting Power to Shape Policy<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Ashton, policy work is about more than fixing broken systems\u2014it\u2019s about shifting who holds the power to imagine and build something better. That means centering the voices of people who have lived through incarceration, educational exclusion, and systemic violence\u2014not just as storytellers or symbols, but as decision-makers, strategists, and architects of change. \u201cA lot of the worst policies we have were created in vacuums\u2014without input from the people most impacted,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, when I put forth a recommendation, I want to make sure it\u2019s informed by and accountable to the communities I serve.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ashton is also guided by an abolitionist lens\u2014one that supports education as long as prisons exist, but resists reforms that expand carceral systems. \u201cWe\u2019re very intentional that our work doesn\u2019t increase the size or budget of departments of corrections,\u201d she explained. \u201cInstead, we try to support the kind of freedom dreaming that helps people imagine a different future.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That future is already taking shape. Former EJP students now hold leadership roles in state and city government. Others are enrolling in the University of Illinois system\u2014a first in the program\u2019s 17-year history. For Ashton, these moments are more than milestones. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than sitting at a table led by one of our alumni,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Joy, Community, and a Collective Purpose<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even as her work focuses on systems and policy change, Ashton stays grounded in the relationships and values that brought her to this work in the first place. Outside of her professional work, she finds joy in her pets, her soon-to-arrive baby, and a community of advocates\u2014many of whom are also close friends. She continues to participate in grassroots organizing and sees her job not as a standalone career, but as one thread in a larger movement.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing involved in movement work makes it feel like what I do is part of something bigger,\u201d she said. \u201cNot just a siloed effort to fix one policy\u2014it\u2019s about imagining what\u2019s possible and building it together.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Written by Cameron Mulrooney<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Edited by Michelle Liu<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advancing Higher Ed for System-Impacted Communities\u00a0 Ashton coordinates collaborative statewide efforts to make higher education more accessible to incarcerated and system-impacted students in support of EJP\u2019s mission to build a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14986,"featured_media":0,"parent":1615,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-6936","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/human-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/human-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/human-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/human-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14986"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/human-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6936"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/human-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6946,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/human-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6936\/revisions\/6946"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/human-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/human-rights-institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}