UCSB Program Helps Formerly Incarcerated Students

Underground Scholars Offer Support
for Academic Success

By Ryan P. Cruz | December 23, 2021

BUILDING A PRISON-TO-SCHOOL PIPELINE: The Underground Scholars program at UCSB provides wraparound resources to students who have been affected by the criminal justice system. From left to right, Lisandra Barrera-Rising, Ryan “Flaco” Rising, Juan Bran-Gudiel, Luis Muñoz, Melissa Ortiz and Gilberto Murillo. | Credit: Erick Madrid

In 2013, while serving a seven-year prison sentence in New Folsom State Prison, Ryan “Flaco” Rising joined other inmates on a 33-day hunger strike to demand, among other resources, access to college-level courses. Their protest succeeded, and many lives were changed.

Once college courses became available, “we started studying,” Rising said, “and we were no longer talking about the dirt we did in the hood; we were sharing our papers and supporting each other. The whole mentality shifted from breaking each other down to ‘Hey, can you help me with this algebraic expression? Can you help me write this research paper?’” It stopped being “Who’s the hardest?” and became “Who’s the smartest?” “We became ‘gangsta’ nerds,” Rising said.

Eight years later, Rising has become the program coordinator for UC Santa Barbara’s Underground Scholars Initiative — which he started building from the ground up in September 2019. Underground Scholars is the university’s first-ever program tailored to help formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students succeed in the higher education culture.