Essay On Prison Education

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Pages: 3

The state and federal prison population in America is large. Each day defendants are sentenced for their crimes and become part of the ever growing number of the incarcerated population. As of 2010, there were more than 2.3 million prisoners in America’s prisons (Meyer, Fredericks, Borden, & Richardson, 2010). Many offenders are entering into the prison system with very little education, are often economically disadvantaged and were either unemployed or employed at jobs requiring few skills when they were arrested (Meyer et al., 2010). An even larger number of offenders enter into the criminal justice system as drug abusers or alcohol users; many inmates test positive for drug use the day they are processed (Krebs, Brady, & Laird, 2003).
Many of these prisoners will be serving a long term sentence of several years. Prisons are developed for the purposes of punishing offenders for the crimes they
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Prison programs have been found to contribute to the inner welfare of a prisoner by increasing self-confidence and contributing to a more respected sense of economic potential (Ryan & McCabe, 1993). An inmate’s involvement with prison programs can trigger these types of inner changes. Prison education programs have improved the prison environment, causing it to be a more positive place to live, learn, socialize and work. Changes in inmates behavior that have resulted from prison programs have improved the overall quality of prison life by shaping relationships, increasing inmates’ self-esteem, and contributing to positive role models among inmates (Meyer et al., 2010). These programs that offer educational, vocational, and parental skills, along with drug treatment and post release job and housing placement, show great promise to eliminating the cycle of repeat offenders (Odle,