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  • CAREER Q&A

I want to see a prison-to-PhD pipeline

Ryan Rising creates programmes that help people who have been incarcerated to access academic opportunities.
By
  1. Virginia Gewin

    1. Virginia Gewin is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Oregon.

Ryan Rising was first incarcerated when he was 12 years old, and was characterized as a troublemaker. The label followed him in and out of prison over the next two decades. During that time, he replaced his addiction to drugs with one for gaining knowledge. Rising is now pursuing a PhD in criminology at the University of California, Irvine, studying strategies that prevent recidivism, or repeated criminal behaviour. He is also helping to create a prison-to-university pipeline to assist other formerly incarcerated individuals to earn degrees.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01673-8

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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