Securus Technologies’ ‘Lantern’ shines brightly in helping 600 students earn degrees from Ashland University

DALLAS, Sept. 2, 2020 — Securus Technologies today announces that its Lantern Program has helped 600 incarcerated students earn bachelors and associates degrees from its partner, Ashland University. Created in 2016, Lantern is a first-of-its-kind learning management system built specifically for corrections to provide incarcerated students access to digital education. It has grown to become the largest digital education program for the incarcerated in the U.S.

Lantern is an interactive, cross-functional, and full-service education platform, built to provide incarcerated individuals access to digital college courses so incarcerated individuals can work towards earning their college degree. The program features corrections-grade tablets and draws content from a network of reputable academic providers. In addition to Lantern, incarcerated individuals also have access to GED prep courses, personal development content and thousands of free KA Lite educational videos, which have been downloaded more than 22 million times across subjects ranging from accounting to astronomy.

“Education changes lives and for those working to return home it is a critical step. Six hundred individuals have earned their college degree, either during incarceration or post-release, and there will be many more,” said Dave Abel, president and CEO of Aventiv Technologies, parent company of Securus Technologies. “We’re extremely proud of this milestone and we look forward to celebrating many more graduations.”

Securus Technologies helps prepare incarcerated individuals for reentry by providing education, self-help, entertainment, and communication resources. Users have the ability to learn important job skills and access education at no cost, not only to improve their lives, but also to better their communities.

“Earning a college degree can change the trajectory of a person’s life, whether they’re incarcerated or not,” said Todd Marshall, Ph.D., Vice President for Correctional Education and Innovation at Ashland University. “We partnered with Securus because we knew the value it would bring; the fact that it has grown to this size gives us great hope for the future of the program.”

“Lantern got me back on track, challenging me to improve myself and focus on reentering society with a degree that would open doors,” said M.R., former Lantern student. “For many in the incarcerated community, access to technology and access to education are nearly impossible. The fact that Securus provides these education resources at no cost changed my life. I’m now working towards my Master’s Degree; ten years ago I would have never even dreamed of earning any kind of degree.”

For more information, visit the Lantern program website.

ABOUT SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES:
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, an Aventiv Technologies company, serving more than 3,450 public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies and over 1,200,000 incarcerated individuals across North America, Securus Technologies is committed to serve and connect by providing emergency response, incident management, public information, investigation, biometric analysis, communication, information management, incarcerated individual self-service, and monitoring products and services in order to make our world a safer place to live. Securus Technologies connecting what matters®. For more information, please visit SecurusTechnologies.com. Aventiv is a portfolio company of Platinum Equity. Founded in 1995 by Tom Gores, Platinum Equity is a global investment firm with a portfolio of approximately 40 operating companies that serve customers around the world.