BRANCHVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — A man serving decades in prison claims roadblocks are making it hard to get a bachelor’s degree.

His accusations sparked a monthslong I-Team 8 investigation into the education opportunities provided to inmates.

“Prison, it’s an environment where you have to pick and choose paths. You can’t toe the line, so you’re either doing good, or you’re just all the way doing bad,” said Victor Karp in the visitation area of the Branchville Correctional Facility.

Karp told I-Team 8 he’s picking the path of good while serving 24 years for burglary. His version of that is getting a college degree. “It’s going to change my family. It’ll change my community, because I’m not that virus, or that cancer, that they’ve got to keep taking away.”

Karp arrived at the Branchville Correctional Facility in January and immediately wanted to enroll in college.

“The process has been pulling teeth,” Karp said.

He says other inmates who want to get degrees face similar challenges at the southern Indiana prison that’s off State Road 37 a couple of miles south of I-64 interchange in Perry County.

“Just signing up for school. People didn’t even know that college was coming back. Nobody knew about this Pell Grant when I showed up here in January, so I told everybody, ‘Hey, Pell Grants here. We can go to school again.’ That was a roadblock because then you have to ask the counselor. The counselor, it’s not her fault that she doesn’t know, because the DOC (Indiana Department of Correction) doesn’t tell her. When you tell her she says, ‘Well, I’ll look into it.’ Then a couple of days later she’s like, ‘Here’s the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid ).’ It’s just one step. It’s just always negative,” Karp said.

Through a lengthy and frustratingly slow process, Karp used federal funding through the Second Chance Pell grant program to enroll in a correspondence degree program through Oakland City University. In preparation for learning, he asked prison officials if he could create a study hall twice a week in a building that wasn’t being used.

Karp said, “The request was to use the chapel building, or the re-entry building, while it’s not being used for two hours a week. They denied that flat-out two days later.”

I-Team 8 asked if the inmates could simply have a study hall environment in their dorm. Karp said, “No. I mean, we could sit down and we could get into a group of seven or eight, but there’s still chaos surrounding us. It’s like going to a rock concert and trying to study.”

The Indiana Department of Correction refused I-Team 8’s request for an on-camera interview to talk about the challenges Karp claims he’s facing. The department instead asked for detailed questions that they would respond to with a statement.

I-Team 8 asked them why Karp’s request to create a study hall was denied, if it has enough staff to provide security for a study hall, and if Karp’s claims that the process of finding and enrolling in school was frustrating slow because counselors aren’t told about specific programs.

The response from the Indiana Department of Correction did not answer specific questions related to Karp’s claims.

The department’s statement says it provides education options, including career technical programs and degree partnerships with Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana Tech, the University of Notre Dame, and Holy Cross College.

The department statement added, “Each incarcerated individual works with a case manager to develop an individualized case plan that best fits their needs and includes available educational opportunities.”

I-Team 8 reached out to the university where Karp is enrolled to ask about some of his challenges. Oakland City University said in a statement, “There are multiple challenges when serving incarcerated students; notwithstanding the rules governing how we may provide that service. It is challenging when adhering to the differing rules at the various institutions and how those rules affect our ability to instruct. So, at this time, Oakland City University is in no position to elaborate further until the Indiana Department of Corrections makes a decision on the instructional institution of its Second Chance Pell program.”

With nine years left on his sentence, Karp said, he’s more determined than ever to get his degree, and to help other inmates navigate the process. “I want change. I want change in prison. I want people to realize that we’re still in here. We’re still coming out there. If you want us to be better, help us.”

I-Team 8 asked why people should care about inmates’ efforts to get a college education.

Karp said, “Everybody should care about this. We’re coming home to you. If you want us to be better for you and to stop selling dope, robbing, whatever we were doing to hurt you, you should care. You should care that I get an education because it’s going to better me. It’s going to better you. It’s going to better our community.”