During And After Education By Jay Nixon Summary

Although the United States composes a mere five percent of the world’s population, it holds twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners (13th 0:01-0:05). In recent years, mass incarceration, or the practice of arresting vast amounts of people, has become a relevant issue within the United States. As rising amounts of individuals, primarily minorities, are arrested, for both serious and petty crimes, government spending on jails and inmates has undergone a drastic increase as well. The large sum of money that has been directed toward correctional facilities has initiated a great amount of controversy, as many believe that it should be used to cover the rising cost of education instead. Since the majority of inmates are currently minorities,

A tremendous obstacle for many inmates is a lack of funding available for them to continue their education after they have received their GED (or entered CDOC already having their high school diploma and maybe some college experience). College Correspondence courses, completed entirely on paper, via Prisoner Distance Learning programs are expanding. Adams State University has been recognized as having one of the largest prisoner education programs in the country. It is fantastic that inmates are beginning to have access to these programs. Offenders are able to obtain degrees such as an Associate of Arts or Science, a Bachelor’s

In “Let Prisoner’s Take College Courses”, John Lennon argues the concept of online educational programs for inmates. In this article, Lennon explains how workers in prisons support and allow the use of TVs in cells because TVs reduce the amount of time to create violence. Though, the televisions could have a much better use, such as free, pre-recorded university lectures to help the prisoners learn. Years ago, educational programs for inmates were a key component, but legislation squashed out the ability for prisoners to learn. Currently, very few prisoners are able to participate in these classes, though, the prisoners rarely are reincarcerated because of taking these courses. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo attempted to create more educational programs

The prison system realizes that an immense majority of inmates will be released; we need to prepare them for outside life. Without the efforts of educational programs, a prison can become a “revolving door, with inmates having nowhere to go but back” to the prison with no future (Young 1). A majority of the states offer a GED program, but North Carolina profits from a Community College system that offers classes in academics, auto mechanics, masonry, wiring, plumbing, and computer literacy. The Community Colleges offer two-year degree programs in many areas. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers business association classes to inmates over twenty-five years of age. Because of the excellent programs they have to offer, more than five thousand of about thirty thousand inmates are in the education program and these numbers continue to grow.

Given the number of inmates in the prison system and the high level of recidivism, it is important to seek out possible solutions to this growing problem. By implementing more educationally and vocationally oriented programs it is possible that current recidivism rates can be reduced, thereby offering some relief for existing overcrowding conditions.

Many offenders will be released from prison and yet approximately 60% will return for violating the law (Beard, Johnson, & Kemp, 2003). An inmate that has an education equivalent to a

The article "The Impact of Career and Technical Education Programs on Adult Offenders: Learning Behind Bars" by Howard Gordon and Bracie Weldon (2003) studies of how prisoners receiving educations in prison reduces the recidivism rate. Gordon and Weldon studied the inmates who were participating in the educational programs at the Huttonsville Correctional Center in West Virginia and claimed that inmates who participated in the educational programs were less likely to recidivate once released back into the population as compared to inmates who did not participate in these programs (Gordon & Weldon, 2003). This study provides valuable information as to the effectiveness of educational programs in prison and how they affect prisoner's lives

A provision in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 banned access to Pell Grants for incarcerated adults. At the time, Pell grant usage among inmates constituted less than 1 percent of Federal Pell spending, but its removal all but eliminated postsecondary opportunities for inmates. Since that time, research has found that access to correctional education (i.e. adult education, postsecondary courses, and workforce training) correlates with significantly reduced chances of recidivism, increased employment prospects, and greater public safety. Under the Obama Administration the Department initiated a pilot program reinstating some incarcerated individuals’ access to Pell Grants to pursue higher education. Do you have an opinion on whether providing postsecondary for prisoners helps reduce recidivism, increase employment, and

“Addiction and Substance Abuse.” Issues & Controversies. Infobase Learning, 19 Nov. 2012. Web. 20 July 2016. infobaselearning.com. The argument is about the “War on Drugs” and if it is working. One side of the argument thinks that by not funding the “War on Drugs” drugs would become uncontrolled. They believe that by stopping the war on drugs it would cost a lot more money in lost productivity and crime rate. They state that rehabilitation can occur while the person in in jail, and it should not substitute their punishment. While the other side believes that though we have thrown billions of dollars into this war on drugs it has shown no improvement whatsoever. They believe that by legalizing drugs the government can better regulate

Moreover, as the criminal justice system came under careful scrutiny, it was often seen as part of the problem, as doing too much, too little, or the wrong thing in general. To conservatives, it was apparent that the correctional system, under the rehabilitation method, was teaching that “crime pays.” They believed that criminals were being coddled. Dangerous offenders were getting as simple sentencing as probation, and predators were being prematurely released from prisons. This led to a push in toughening sentences, making them longer, in order to deter the criminals. For liberals, rehabilitation was a source of injustice and coercion. They believed that it taught an important lesson that government officials could not be trusted. Liberals also believed that this was a way to victimize offenders. Thus, liberals and conservatives alike opposed rehabilitation, even though it was for different reasons.

would teach offenders a lesson and reduce their chances to recidivate. Stevens and Ward (1997) said that “retuning unprepared, uneducated, and unusually individuals to the community is the biggest threat to the public safety” (p. 106). Stevens and Ward conducted an experiment to examine the effects of education on incarcerated offenders. The experiment contained 60 student-inmates who had earned their associate or bachelor degree while incarcerated. The participants were inmates release from the North Carolina Department of Corrections (p. 108). The participants were tracked and their recidivism rate were compared with nonstudent inmates. Also, they gathered data from education and recidivism studies of thirty states. The result demonstrated

Prisoners are described as untrustworthy criminals-a characteristic a college education won’t change. Victims of criminals are used as more evidence of their negative nature; justifying why inmates shouldn’t be able to be awarded the grants. In contrast, they emphasize the innocent nature of law abiding citizens, who work relentlessly to be able to send their kids to college, and how these attributes make them different than inmates; and therefore the only rightful receiver of Pell Grants. The group that supported Pell Grants in U.S. prisons, took a less aggressive role. They didn’t refute the opposing side’s claim completely, but focused on the positive results of college education. They portrayed inmates as molding blocks who could change with the help of proper resources, and the fact that they were as much of a citizen as anyone else- and deserved the same opportunity of the Pell

Separation exists between society and the penal system, and due to this, there is a grave lack of knowledge of what is happening behind bars and how we can improve the situation we have currently in regards to the prison system. There are major flaws that exist within the penal system, and Angela Davis highlighted the main one of secrecy. We know based off of research that our prison population commonly consists of individuals who struggle academically (Petersilia, 2003, pg 32). Because of this lack of a strong education, they may not possess basic skills like reading, with about 20 % performing at an illiterate level within state facilities (Petersilia, 2003, pg 32), which prisons are not going around glorifying.

“States reported that approximately 9,900 incarcerated persons earned a certificate in the 2009–10 academic year; 2,200 associate’s degrees were awarded, and nearly 400 students earned bachelor’s degrees” Sponsler and Gorgol (2011). Education has the ability to positively impact any individual especially those who face the challenges of incarceration. Although this is not a topic that influential individuals in the U.S. seem to discuss too often, it is something that impacts a large number of people in the institutional system, thus having universal impacts on the rest of the population.

In what scenario should the cost of harboring a convict surpass that of the education of a youth? According to a 2013 study by the Vera Institute of Justice, each of the fifty states in the US believe as such. The amount the government spent on housing a felon in Maryland alone averaged more than $35,000, about $25,000 more than the funds given for the education of a student. Why does the government set a value on the lives of those who contaminate society higher than those who want to advance and maintain it? Rather than paying more for this increasing demographic — who has filled the prison walls nearly eight times more in the last fifty years, there are different steps that the government, psychologists, and the education system can take to mend this growing predicament.