Academic potential and a lengthy rap sheet are enough to get you enrolled in Wesleyan University's new educational programs, designed specifically for the best and brightest among Cheshire Correctional Institutions.

Though definitely not the first program to perform this type of outreach, Wesleyan is only accepting the scholastic cream of the crop, which represents a first for any program of that nature.

More than 120 applicants applied for 19 coveted spots in the program, with their acceptance pending heavily on essays about collegiate philosophical topics such as Sigmund Freud's thoughts on happiness and Frantz Fanon's ideology on how language helped “support the weight of a civilization.”

Still in its infancy, the program is facing an unsteady financial future, with funding for the program proving to be elusive at best. Also, there is no word as to whether Wesleyan degrees will be given to inmates that successfully complete the course.

Still, this program is an enormous step in the right direction to true inmate rehabilitation. The system needs more like them.