13. Education’s Failed Promise: How Public Policies “Educate” a Criminal Underclass

Abstract

Individuals who have been convicted of a felony and served time in prison tend to have limited educational attainment, and upon reentering society, this population remains largely under-educated. Drawing from an interdisciplinary framework, in-depth interviews, and ethnographic data from fieldwork in Newark, New Jersey, this chapter examines the connection between incarceration, a felony conviction, and education policies. By exploring federal and state public policies pertaining to education inside and outside of prison, this chapter demonstrates how the expansion of “tough on crime” politics prevents prisoners and former prisoners from securing an education and how education policies deny prisoners and people convicted of a felony the ability to become formally educated. As a result, a vicious cycle develops as individuals remain undereducated and unable to secure funds needed for educational programs.