Importance of Inmate Education
- Inmates who take part in educational opportunities while incarcerated are less likely to return to prison once they are released, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The California Department of Corrections reports that inmates who participate in state correctional education programs are 29 percent less likely to return to prison for repeat offenses.
- Statistics from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York show that 17.8 percent of those released from prison who have never taken college courses while incarcerated end up violating their parole in some way. By contrast, those who have attended college while in prison typically violate parole only 1.1 percent of the time.
- For every 100 prisoners behind bars in New York State, the taxpayers within the state save $900,000 in costs associated with reincarceration, according to the Graduate Center of The City University of New York.
- When inmates participate in schooling while in prison, they learn valuable information about how to survive socially and financially in the outside world. This education provides them with the means to go back into society and make a clean transition to a normal life outside of crime. Education gives the inmate a clearer picture of personal and social responsibility. The education prisoners receive literally changes their lives and the lives of those who might otherwise have been victims of future crimes.
- The prison environment is safer and more manageable when a significant portion of the inmate population receives an education inside the facility, according to the Graduate Center of The City University of New York. Workers at the prisons are at less risk and have to deal with less-frequent disciplinary action. A prison with student prisoners tends to run smoother on a daily basis than those without student enrollment.