Are the prison education programs efficient for inmates?

1. ARETHE PRISON
EDUCATION PROGRAMS
EFFICIENT FOR INMATES?
LAURA RAMIREZ

2. Inmate Education and Correctional
Education
 Education "behind bars" presents an
opportunity for the incarcerated to
prepare for success upon release.
 The most effective way to keep
people out of prison once they leave
is to give them jobs skills that make
them marketable employees.

3. 1. GED or Literacy Classes
■ This program allow people to get an
official High School diploma
equivalent.
■ Usually prisoners are an under-
educated group – who maintain less
than 5th grade in reading and writing.

4. 2. Adult Continuing Education
■ After the GED, the inmates have the
opportunity to continue their education with
Adult Continuing Education.
■ These are courses which are led by inmate-
instructors and encompass any number of
topics.
Education Department offers:
- Writing and Publishing
- Personal Finance
- Spanish
- Basic Math
- Legal Basics and more

5. Free or Not?
■ 1994: Congress passed theViolent Crime Control and
Law Enforcement Act (VCCLEA).
“No basic grant shall be awarded under this subpart
to any individual who is incarcerated in any Federal
or State penal institution.”
Without Pell Grants, prisoners have to pay for the
educational services themselves.
■ 2015: Restoring Education and Learning Act (REAL Act).
The Obama Administration was backing a program
that would allow for a limit access for some
prisoners called the Second Chance Pell Pilot.

6. Second Chance Pell Pilot
■ The Obama administration has chosen 67 colleges and universities.
■ The program enrolled 12,000 prisoners at more than 100 correctional institutions
across the country.
■ It’s toward prisoners likely to be released within the next five years.
■ Most of the colleges chosen will offer classes in person at the correctional facilities or
online classes.
■ The Education Department’s argument is also financial: investing in prisoner
education saves money in incarceration costs.
■ For every dollar invested in prison education, four to five dollars are saved on
reincarceration costs.

8. Class Participation
■ Do you think is fair that people have to pay criminals
education?
■ How would you decrease the crime rate in NewYork?

9. References
■ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/16/opinion/a-college-education-for-
prisoners.html?_r=0
■ https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/correctional-education.html
■ https://www.bouldercounty.org/safety/jail/programs/education/
■ https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/06/24/us-expands-pell-grant-program-
12000-prison