In this article, the authors provide a selective review of both research and policy represented in part by two concepts that have been discussed in educational research--the "right to learn" and the notion of "literacy as a civil right" and how these issues of access and equity are undermined by the school-to-prison pipeline. First, they outline how scholarship, and literacy research in particular, has embraced the ideology of looking at critical literacy and learning as civil rights in an effort to convey the urgency of creating young learners who are equipped for 21st-century ways of knowing. Next, they provide a narrative of the history of the "educational debt" that has contributed to and in some cases propelled inequities by ushering youth from schools to jails and prisons. Finally, they offer researchable and practice-focused issues to consider. Throughout this article, the authors use a sociocritical lens to understand literacy--that is, a lens that underscores "historicizing literacy." They aim to show the relationship between the school-to-prison pipeline and a legacy of leaving particular students behind.