Prison education
Reforms included instructing them in "piety and good morals", though this proved impossible due to the cramped conditions, extreme poverty and lack of other services.
He believed prison education would "discipline the mind and fit it to receive ... the thoughts and principles that constitute their possessors good citizens".
Private interviews were not permitted, but officials highlighted the system's work and study programmes, including the teaching of skilled trades such as carpentry.
[26] Resources for education are comparatively lacking due to rising incarceration rates and prison overcrowding, partly a by-product of the war on drugs.
Although details about programmes and their effectiveness is limited, the lack of available data is attributed to corruption within the prison system, alongside poor living conditions and high levels of violence.
[37] The report stated that the history of prison education in Australia "could fairly be described as a disgrace", with non-existent or poor facilities containing deficient and out-dated curricula and resources.
[61] However, by 2016, the National Open University of Nigeria had established training centers at six Nigerian prisons, and offers inmates a 50% discount on all tuition fees.
[64] Inmates were able to undertake correspondence courses through the University of London International Programmes; Nelson Mandela completed a Bachelor of Laws while in custody, though his educational privileges were revoked for four years after staff discovered he was writing an autobiography, something which was forbidden at the time.
[81] Prison education programmes have been considered to be a "delicate balancing act" between enough cooperation with the criminal justice system and genuine efforts to offer meaningful learning experiences.
[88] Distance education courses are increasingly only being offered online, which presents a significant barrier as most countries do not permit inmates to access the internet.
[72][88] Inmates may be moved to another facility at any time for a variety of reasons, such as overcrowding, a downgrade in security classification, court appearances or medical appointments.
[97] Prisoners who have to pay for tuition, however, may be reluctant to enroll as they will not receive refunds if they cannot complete studies due to lockdowns or other circumstances beyond their control.
[73] Foreign inmates who will be deported at the end of their sentence often lack incentive to learn the language of the country they are incarcerated in, or obtain qualifications there.
Posted materials being quarantined also impacted programmes that continued to run, resulting in instructors often receiving coursework from inmates well after they were due.
[125] Such fully-experimental interventions (randomized controlled trials) are rare in criminology; practical difficulties are often cited as a reason for this lack, but the culture of the academic field may be more relevant.
[85] Studies on prison education have a reputation for measuring effectiveness against rates of recidivism alone, and do not take into consideration any other factors such as the experience from the perspective of either students or teachers.
A meta-analysis in 1975 and another in 1983 found that while education programmes in prison were beneficial for inmates, their effects on recidivism were inconclusive;[18] the methods used in these meta-analyses have been considered to be of poor quality by modern standards.
[143][144] In England and Wales, education courses linked with reduced recidivism are priced at about £250 each as of 2014, compared to an average annual cost of £37,648 to incarcerate each inmate.
[146] Studies have found that due to the increased post-release employment and decreased recidivism associated with prison education, the financial savings to the community more than offset the cost of the programmes.
[151] Estimates on the cost effectiveness of prison education are typically conservative, as they are unable to measure the indirect savings as a result of fewer victims, and reduced strain on police, judicial and social service systems.
Taxpayers save additional money as former prisoners who gain employment pay taxes, are better able to support their families,[148][152] and are less reliant on public financial assistance.
It is often difficult to obtain meaningful data on the amount of funding available for prison education, as the money may not come from a dedicated budget, but rather from a variety of sources.
[70] A survey in 2012 financed by the European Commission found that out of 31 countries in Europe, the majority reported no change in the budget for prison education over the previous three years.
[86] In Honduras, as of 2012, 97% of the prison system's budget is spent entirely on staff salaries and food, leaving barely any funding for sanitation or other services.
[26] A study in 1994 of 34 countries found that half offered basic literacy programmes to inmates, and one-third a form of education higher than that.
[165] Inspectors from Human Rights Watch were shown classrooms purported to be used for teaching basic literacy at two prisons, though they reported the rooms appeared to not have not been used for some time, and also heard an allegation that inmates were only permitted to access education if they first converted to Islam.
[40][45] The lack of support for prison education has been linked to sensationalist reporting on crime, including a disproportionate emphasis on violent offences, perpetuating public fear.
[40][72] According to the United Nations General Assembly, the "willingness of politicians" to reflect these fears has led to a "reluctance to embed prisoners' rights to education".
[23][183] According to criminologist Grant Duwe, the complaint that giving prisoners free education effectively treats them better than regular citizens is valid, though the practice should nonetheless be encouraged due to the significant savings for taxpayers as a result of decreases in crime.
In 2014, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed allocating $1 million of the state's $2.8 billion budget for prisons towards a college programme for inmates.
