Adult Education when Incarcerated
From Adult Education
by Suprapa Boonyanate and Wanawan Prayoonwet, Fall 2009
Contents |
Introduction
The main characteristic of adult education supports the key idea of learning that individuals are able to learn, regardless of who they are, when it is, and where they are. Therefore, education should be provided for everybody, especially for people who are incarcerated. This issue is still debatable whether the government should invest in this sector of the population. However, it is evident that this investment is worthwhile. Inmates who enrolled in the educational program in prison reported well behavior, and never go back to the prisons again compared to those who did not participate in the program. Educational program in prison has been established for decades but not many people are familiar with. Therefore, it is a good opportunity to share brief information regarding adult education while incarcerated[1].
What is prison education?
According to The government White Paper Custody, Care and Justice: The Way Ahead for the Prison Service in England and Wales (1991), prison education is a crucial element of the opportunities which must be provided to prisonors. It also states that the purpose of education in prison is somewhat to compensate for the poor education and social skills which many prisoners have, and that should be opportunities to develop creativity and other skills. Therefore, prisoners will regain a sense of personal achievement and self respect. The position of prison educational programs is clarified as “marginal a fact reflected in attitudes towards education, attitudes about its efficacy and problems of financing particular programs” (Jones and Errico 1994).
Educational programs in prison
About 9 in 10 State prisons offer educational programs for their inmates. These facilities generally hold prisoners sentenced to at least a year in prison because it gives inmates enough time to achieve educational program. However, local jails also allow prisoners from arraignment through conviction, and for short sentences to participate in educational program. Approximately 6 in 10 local jails provide educational programs for their inmates. Even though jail inmates generally stay for short time periods, the percent of State and private prisons offering educational programs to their inmates increased from 1995 to 2000.
In 1995, 88% of State prisons and 72% of private prisons provided educational programs; in 2000, 91% of State prisons and 88% of private prisons offered educational opportunities. During this period all Federal prisons offered courses. Secondary education programs, which focusing on preparing for the GED, were the most common type of courses in 2000. Over 8 in 10 State prisons, almost all Federal prisons, about 7 in 10 private prisons, and over half of jails provided high school level classes. There were also classes in basic arithmetic and reading provided, with 8 in 10 State prisons, almost all Federal prisons, 6 in 10 private prisons, and 1 in 4 local jails offering basic education programs. In State prisons between 1995 and 2000, the percentages of prisons offering classes increased for basic education (76% to 80%), high school courses (80% to 84%), and special education programs (33% to 40%), while the percentage with college classes went down (31% to 27%). Vocational training, special programs designed to train participants for a job, were reported by 56% of State prisons, 94% of Federal prisons, 44% of private prisons, and 7% of local jails (Harlow, 2003).
Womens participation in prison education
While most female prisoners are offered some form of educational programming (according to the U.S. Department of Justice 87% of state and federal prisons offer some form of educational programming for inmates), most do not take advantage of these opportunities.
There was never an instance between 1979 and 1997 where the majority of female prisoners were participating in some form of educational programming. While there was a significant increase from 1979 (28%)to 1986 (49%), the percentage of female participants in educational programming significantly declined to 42% by the year 1991 and, once again, significantly declined in 1997 to 30%.
The provision of educational programming to female inmates mirrors the provision of the health care services. While male prisoners run into their own problems concerning educational pursuits during their incarceration, female prisoners have fewer available programs from which to choose, and the programs that are available tend to be of a lesser quality when compared to those offered to male inmates (Ross and Fabiano, 1986; Janusz, 1991).
Statistical reports of the 1990s clearly show that most female prisoners enter prison uneducated (about 20% are literate), with few skills (many have only held minimum-wage jobs), from a low socio-economic status (about 60% are on public assistance), and unemployed (Owen and Bloom, 1995). With the current situation where the health care and educational needs of women prisoners are not adequately addressed, it is not surprising that other needs of female inmates, as well, are not addressed among the policy makers.
The effectiveness of prison education
Since 1990, the literature has shown that prisoners who attend educational programs while they are incarcerated are less likely to return to prison following their release. Ripley(1993) believed that recidivism rates drop when the education programs are designed to help prisoners with their social skills, artistic development, and techniques and strategies to help them deal with their emotions. Riplry further stressed the importance of teaching moral education as well as critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Clark (1991) found that inmates who earned a diploma returned to prison custody at a significantly lower rate (26.4%) than those inmates who did not earn a degree (44.6%). Similarly, Allen (1988) at the University of Oklahoma showed that 25% of the inmates who received vocational training in prison returned to prison following their release. There was compared to a 77% recidivism rate for the general population in the state of Oklahoma.
Problems in prison education
Two factors that are essential to the success all failure of prisons education programs are prison overcrowding and inadequate funding for teaching personnel, supplies and equipment. According to Jenkins (1994), prison over-crowding was particularly evident between 1980 and 1992 when the prison population increased by 160%. With the increased in prison population; however, prison educators have witnessed decreases in program funding for teaching staff, supplies and material.
In addition, most of the maximum-security prisons are populated with males having little or very few employable skills (Gendron & Cavan, 1988). More than half of the adults incarcerated in American federal and state prisons can neither read nor write, and they have less than an 8 grade education. Many adult prisoners are school dropouts; and given probation do not finish high school or return to school. Many prisoners are likely to have poor self-confidence and negative attitudes about education because they viewed their early experiences as being negative ( Paul, 1991)
External links
http://www.prisonuniversityproject.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYITuVfAz4I
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_education
http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/02/what-happened-to-prison-education
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjmtBFTC8I4
References
Behan, C. (2009). Report from the European Prison Education Association. Journal of Correctional Education, 60(2), 96-98. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1833469161).
Chris Rose. (2004). Women's Participation in Prison Education: What We Know and What We Don't Know. Journal of Correctional Education, 55(1), 78-100. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 618279911).
Dalia Ben-Tsur. (2007). Political Conflict Confronted Through Prison Education: A Case Study of Israeli Teachers Working with Palestinian Prisoners. Journal of Correctional Education, 58(2), 108-128. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1285125341).
James S Vacca. (2004). Educated Prisoners Are Less Likely to Return to Prison. Journal of Correctional Education, 55(4), 297-305. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 774832621).
Rebecca Sanford, & Johanna E. Foster. (2006). Reading, writing, and prison education reform :The tricky and political process of establishing college programs for prisoners: perspectives from program developers. Equal Opportunities International, 25(7), 599-610. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1168370851).
Ward, S. (2009). Career and Technical Education in United States Prisons: What Have We Learned? Journal of Correctional Education, 60(3), 191-200. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1883663981).
