Research on Correctional Education

Beyond recidivism (the tendency to reoffend), there are limited data on the value of correctional education, especially in terms of return on investment.¹ The laser focus on recidivism is problematic, given that re-offenses cannot capture metrics of educational success used for traditional college populations, such as retention rates, graduation rates, and post-college employment. Still, federal and state prisons’ evaluation of correctional programming is limited to the outcome data they have traditionally collected, which is recidivism.

In 2013, an extensive literature review and meta-analysis published by RAND found that correctional education significantly reduces recidivism and improves employment outcomes upon release.² Other studies focus on societal and individual economic benefits to prison education programs, such as reduction in crime, improved prison culture, psychological well-being, and an increased sense of purpose.³ Nonetheless, there remains a gap in the literature on how higher education affects reentry via increasing incarcerated adults’ skills. A 2013 meta-analysis of studies on correctional educational programs found that only 4 of the 58 existing studies evaluated math and reading skills to measure the effectiveness of correctional educational programming.⁴

Research suggests that successful reentry for formerly incarcerated adults benefits not only the individuals, but also their families and their communities.⁵ These studies show that when parents, including incarcerated parents, obtain a postsecondary degree, their children are more likely to complete a college degree as well.⁶ As one incarcerated student told us:

“I’m the first in my family to graduate from high school. But since I’ve been locked up, my daughter dropped out of high school. But now that I have been part of the college [program], now she is telling me she wants to get her GED and then go into nursing. It’s like my second chance is becoming her second chance!”

From both empirical research and anecdotal evidence, educational attainment of parents is predictive of the educational attainment of children.

A 2011 report by the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) of a 50-state survey in 2009–2010 found that only 6 percent of incarcerated individuals were enrolled in postsecondary education at the time and that these programs had extremely low completion rates.⁷ In speaking with currently and formerly incarcerated students during our prison site visits, we found that low completions were typically attributable to a number of factors. Among other things, some students were released before they could complete their degrees, while others were transferred to other facilities before finishing. Some took a break for personal reasons such as to prepare for parole; and some experienced difficulty managing their college courses with the scheduling of their prison job and/or mandatory programming that some state department of corrections prioritize. Unfortunately, college programming has not fully translated as a rehabilitative program into the culture of prisons and is often not highly prioritized for those with less than a year to reentry.

Although there are many reasons to explain why some formerly incarcerated adults successfully transition back into society and others do not, limited education and limited skills are key factors. A meta-analysis of a systematic review conducted by RAND (2014) found that correctional education may increase post-release employment for formerly incarcerated adults. The RAND (2014) study found that for those who completed either academic or vocational programs, the odds of obtaining employment were 13 percent higher compared to those who did not.⁸ A study this year by the Vera Institute of Justice complemented RAND’s work: it predicted that if 50 percent of incarcerated adults who are academically eligible to enroll in postsecondary education actually enrolled, post-release employment for incarcerated adults would increase, on average, by 10 percent.⁹