Patrick Rodriguez

Patrick Rodriguez is the Co-Executive Director of the Georgia Coalition for Higher Education in Prison. Mr. Rodriguez builds and advances equitable, high-quality educational pathways to degree completion for incarcerated people throughout Georgia. Through his work with the National Executive Council at the Center for Justice at Columbia University, he known as a national thought leader on prison education programs and today’s most pressing policy issues. Mr. Rodriguez spent 52 months incarcerated in Georgia prisons and leads with that lived experience to center and uplift the voices of the students he serves. Since his release in 2019, he has expanded in-prison degree programs, including increasing enrollment of new students who are incarcerated and created powerful reentry initiatives to support continued education post-release. Patrick builds bridges across southern perspectives by placing the value of human life at the front of the conversation to create a new way forward to strengthen people, families, communities, and our workforce.