Prison education involves vocational training or academic education supplied to prisoners as part of their rehabilitation and preparation for life outside prison.
A typical statement of the aims of prison education is this, from the U.K. Forum on Prisoner Education:
- “We believe that education in prisons should be centred on the needs of the individual prisoner, for whom it can hold the key to living without crime by building self-esteem, encouraging self-motivation, and providing new opportunities after release.”
Prison education is sometimes carried out within the prison system, and sometimes provided by outside bodies, such as educational establishments. Similarly, funding can come from governments or private charities.
Criticism
While sceptics claim that, in many cases, prison education produces nothing more than “better educated criminals” [1], many studies have shown significant decreases in recidivism. A study by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons found: “The more educational programs successfully completed for each six months confined, the lower the recidivism rate” [2].
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