Obama administration wants to give prisoners Pell grants through experimental program

Education Secretary Arne Duncan says the Obama administration wants to expand the Pell grant program to prisoners.

He and Attorney General Loretta Lynch will visit the Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup, Maryland, on Friday to announce the plans.

In a speech Monday, Duncan said the administration wants to develop "experimental sites that will make Pell grants available" to inmates so they can get training for jobs.

Prisoners in federal or state institutions are not currently eligible for Pell grants, which are for lower-income people and do not have to be repaid.