Opinion

Jailhouse University

When Gov. Cuomo proposed expanding free college education for prison inmates, we pronounced ourselves intrigued by the idea but skeptical about sticking taxpayers with the bill.

Instead, we suggested the administration offer creative incentives to entice colleges and private foundations to fund and administer such a program themselves. That’s exactly what’s now happening.

As The Post’s Pat Bailey reported Tuesday, the governor’s proposal is moving forward with funding from nonprofit foundations. That’s the best solution, not only because the nonprofits funding this program have a stronger incentive to see money spent wisely — but because it seems unfair to ask New Yorkers to fund free degrees for felons at a time when they are struggling to finance college for their own children.

The governor insists that, based on the results of a pilot program in place since 2008 and run by Bard College, educating prisoners will mean less crime. Bard says the recidivism rate for its grads is one-tenth the rate among the general prison population. By turning prisoners into productive citizens, we all come out ahead.

So we wish the program well. We hope the governor’s confidence about what it can achieve will be borne out. And if this program does delivers as promised, it will be because it’s the private sector has taken the lead instead of state government.