“Bending Bars” at Walk the Talk Indy – Butler University, Shelton Auditorium

Certell Founder and CEO, Fred Fransen, gave a powerful presentation on the value of education for all.  His vision: to provide a quality education to anyone, anywhere in the world.  It’s bold, innovative, and affecting thousands of people’s lives.  Even people who are incarcerated.

Fred acknowledged the reality of the brutality of crime and the tragic impact each transgression has on the victim, the perpetrator, their families, and society writ large.  “Does a person,” he asked, “who is a convicted criminal deserve anything—even access to an education?” 

He believes that person does. 

In fact, as he noted, it’s Certell’s “Civics Education Program” which is transforming the minds and hearts of our students at South Bay Correctional Facility in Florida.  Because of their exposure to great works and ideas in courses like civics, ethics, economics, and literature, our inmate students are being challenged to embrace perennial principles about life that are altering their world view.  

Fred shared a moment of insight during one of his visits to South Bay some years ago.  He asked for examples as to how the Civics Education Program was affecting the culture of the prison.  One of our students stood up and said, “I’m a Muslim, my brother here is a Christian and my other brother over there is a Jew.  And we have the most in-depth conversations about politics thanks to the Civics program.  I challenge you to find another prison in the state where a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew can have that kind of relationship.”

Our program is transforming the culture behind bars and preparing our students to reenter society responsibly.  With 95% of all incarcerated persons coming back to our communities, we continue, like Fred, to ‘Walk the Talk’ paving the way to success through his renewed vision of education for all!