Prison Education Research Articles

Beyond the Gates: Teaching Race and Politics in Brazil in a Prison Education Program

The project of liberatory education is fraught with complications in a Small Liberal Arts College or SLAC environment. Authors bell hooks and Paulo Freire look to an ethics of care, love, and mutual restoration of humanity through teaching openly and freely. My initial teaching experiences as an assistant professor revealed that this liberatory aim could not be fulfilled at the college campus, so I taught in a prison college education program. The goals of this article are: 1) to elucidate the complicated relationship that a woman faculty of color at the intersections of multiple identities has in adjusting to the SLAC environment; 2) to expound upon my weekly exit from campus and entry into prison education as a vehicle to advance institutional goals for outreach and social justice; 3) to interrogate prison education epistemologies and describe the counternarratives and practical strategies developed in a course on Race and Politics in Brazil to decolonize the curriculum; and 4) to express the realities of teaching a Black-centered, intersectional course in an all-male maximum security prison setting. It was through this practical prison teaching experience that I stretched the limits of my practice of education and found a temporary home in which to do so.

Prison Education Characteristics and Classroom Management by Prison Teachers

Abstract The purpose of this research will be to present the classroom management issues faced by prison teachers and introduce strategies applied by prison teachers managing them within the formal education system in correctional service. Cell classrooms, inmate students, and prison teachers’ characteristics and the importance of prison education are to be analyzed within Kosovo Correctional Service. To reach these goals three questions will be raised: 1. What are the classroom management issues in prison schools? 2. Are the prison teachers professionally prepared to teach to inmate students? and 3. Do prison schools differ from schools in the common world? This study will be introduced through qualitative data and a literature review as instruments of the study dedicated to prison classroom management and characteristics, teachers and inmates’ responsibilities and benefits within the informal education system within Kosovo Correctional Service. The research findings revealed that similar classroom management issues are present in prison schooling compared to classrooms in the free world; prison teachers are not additionally prepared to teach in prison classrooms to inmate students. Prisoners, who plan to rehabilitate and reintegrate themselves through formal prison education, want their circumstances and prison characteristics to be taken into consideration by all factors involved in their schooling within prison walls.

The Transformative Power of Education as a Means of Enabling Former Offenders to Live Meaningful and Productive Lives

Abstract Kaur (2012) raises the question, how can education be more inclusive and representative when catering to diverse groups and students? Does our entitlement to human kindness cease once incarcerated, and are we to be forever banished to the outskirts of society? The majority of offender education research assesses success or failure through mechanistic, objective and calculated criteria. Statistically, offenders repeatedly underachieve in primary and secondary education; offenders who partake in some form of adult and post-release learning continue this pattern, and face other non-learning barriers that impact on participation and accreditation outcomes (Prison Education Trust, 2018). Departing from conventional modes and methods of teaching, this article examines the transformative journeys of former offenders, and considers the role of education in supporting them to lead more productive and meaningful lives.

An Examination of Literacy and Computer Literacy Amongst Adults Who Are Incarcerated

In this study, the relationships between literacy, computer experience, and age among and between the general (i.e., "household") and prison samples were examined using the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. Literacy scores and computer experiences were significantly lower (p < .001) for the prison sample than for the household sample. There were significant differences in the mean literacy scores between the household and prison samples for those with no computer experience, t(2048) = -3.58, p < .01 and for those with computer experience, t(7721) = 8.99, p < .01. Computer experience predicted literacy proficiency across both samples (R-squared = .10, SE = .01, p < .01). Lastly, there was an inverse relationship between age and computer experience, with a widening gap between the household and prison samples as age increased. The inequalities in the essential skills of print and computer literacy between the general and prison populations are concerning and indicate a need for literacy and computer education in prisons.

The Influence Of Entrepreneurship Education And Entrepreneurial Attitude On Juvenile Prisoner’s Entrepreneurial Intention In 3 Provinces Of Indonesia

This study discovers the influence of entrepreneurship education on juvenile prisoners’ entrepreneurial intentions in LPKA Batam, Pangkalpinang and Medan located in 3 provinces in Indonesia while also evaluating their entrepreneurial attitude as a mediating variable. An examination was held based on the 30 surveys collected to assess for the relationships. It is exhibited that entrepreneurship education in the 3 juvenile prisons significantly impacts on juvenile prisoners’ entrepreneurial intentions through the crucial roles of entrepreneurial attitude. The findings revealed that entrepreneurship education influences entrepreneurial intentions indirectly through entrepreneurial attitude in which its role is a complete mediation to entrepreneurial intentions. The results also recommended that government of Indonesia with their influential policy can embrace entrepreneurship education to form juvenile prisoners’ entrepreneurial attitude to improve young prisoners’ entrepreneurial intentions. Additionally, the strategic value of these findings is also as the resource to encourage government, academicians, enterprises with their corporate social responsibility, and community at large to play their roles in improving entrepreneurship education for juvenile prisoners in Indonesia.

The Open University Law School’s Public Legal Education in Prisons: Contributing to Rehabilitative Prison Culture

There is a massive unmet need for legal knowledge in prisons. The Open University Law School, through its Open Justice Centre, has trialled various ways in which to meet this unmet need. Most prison-university partnerships in England and Wales follow a model of prisoners and university students being taught together as one group in a traditional higher education learning format. The Open University Law School’s public legal education in prisons follows instead the Street Law model to disseminate knowledge of the law throughout a prison, either through prison radio or through the work of the charity St Giles Trust. While this article confirms other research findings which evidence the personal benefit law students derive in researching and delivering audience-appropriate public legal education, it also considers the benefit for those imprisoned in the context of rehabilitative prison culture.

Why Race Matters for Higher Education in Prison

ABSTRACT There has been bi-partisan momentum to provide higher education opportunities for students who are impacted by the criminal legal system, but similar to the context of the contemporary crisis of higher education, the problem of racial inequity persists. The Alliance for Higher Education in Prison, a national multi-stakeholder network supporting quality higher education in prison, stated in their most recent report, “programs are ill-equipped to support faculty and staff in reflecting on how race, class, gender, ability, sexuality, and other identity or status markers might impact their interest in, or approach to, teaching in prison, as well as their experiences while doing so (Erzen et al., 2019).” In this spirit, this essay will address issues of racial inequity and injustice within higher education in prison programs—examining issues of faculty diversity, pedagogy, and barriers students impacted by the criminal legal system face in continuing their higher education upon release. In addressing these barriers, there is an opportunity to overcome racial inequity at a massive scale and set an example, both for higher education communities and society as a whole.

Correctional Education in Turkey: An Historical Overview from Past to Present and Evaluation of Current Practices

Prison education is covered within the scope of adult education for the reasons such as content, program, and target group. Incarcerated people, on the other hand, are one of the disadvantaged groups among adult learners that have been increasingly studied in recent years. The present research aims to analyze the current correctional education in Turkey with reference to practices in the past and to discuss the challenges in the implementation process through descriptive analysis. According to the results of the paper, the number of inmates who participate in the first and second-degree courses is fewer than the total population of illiterate prisoners and literate prisoners who have no primary school diploma. Moreover, the study reveals that it is an exemplary activity that the prisoners acquire a profession with vocational training while they are employed within the correctional settings. However, they have difficulty finding jobs after they are released. In addition, according to the findings of the study, prisoners are generally satisfied with the religious education activities going on inside the prisons. Nevertheless, there is a need to regulate the prison population in Turkey in order to make the inmates equally benefit from the educational, cultural, and recreational activities. Finally, it is significant to disseminate technology-enriched education programs to eliminate the challenges that arise in the implementation of educational activities particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Corrupting and Saving: Moral Contamination, Prison Education and Prison History

AbstractThis article examines the ways in which prison has been seen as both a ‘school of crime’ and a school of reform; a place for potential further corruption, or through education in prison, a route away from criminality. It explores the methods used, since the early 19th Century, to protect those confined from the corrupting prison environment. In examining prison education in the 1920s, it argues that, despite significant changes in the wider penal system, changes in education and schooling within prison walls, continued to be slow, protracted in developing, and ineffectual in the challenge of reforming prisoners.

Most Wanted

Most Wanted Quayshaun Bailey (bio) Most Wanted As I come out with my hands upMy past comes to me in flashes.If anyone asks it,All I can say is it was good while it lasted. Evading my capture,Fleeing—eluding, avoiding crashes.But now it's all past tense,Dust-to-dust; ashes-to-ashes. Part of me hates it when this happens,Cuz last time didn't end well.That shit knocked the wind out of meAnd it took me awhile to inhale. Cuz I fought so hard for it,So when I noticed that it failedIt forced me to runAnd I ended up breaking the bond and skipped bail. But "its well" is what's saidIn another part of my brain.Like "these are different times andCircumstances, it's hardly the same." Cuz this time its not a set-upFor some heartache or pain.It's a chance for new opportunities,A fresh start, and some change. It's just strangeGoing through all this again, my brain is buzzin'.My eyes are wideAnd it's a funny feeling inside my stomach. But in a way I am relievedCuz I always knew that my time was coming. [End Page 237] And it's 'bout time you brung it,Cuz deep down I'm tired of running. And I don't want to duck, hide, or nothing,But please trust me;I've still got memoriesOf how the last situation crushed me. Cut me, scarred me, bruised meAnd even scuffed me.So "don't handle me roughly"Is all that I say as I let you cuff me. It must be something wrong with meIs yelled from everyone that's close.Saying if they were me,They would've ran off as soon as you approached. And I used to be just like them,Preferring to see my face on a most wanted post.But now I see that all alongThis is what I wanted most. [End Page 238] Quayshaun Bailey Quayshaun Bailey is a poet and author from Preoria, IL. He currently resides at Stateville Correctional Center and is enrolled in the Northwestern Prison Education Program with Northwestern University. He was first introduced to poetry by his mother as a kid and credits her for his interest in creative writing. He is presently working on a book compiling some of his works. Copyright © 2020 Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University

Escola no estabelecimento prisional de Aveiro: uma oportunidade ainda mais comprometida em tempo de pandemia de COVID-19

This research results from the work as a teacher of the Aveiro Schools Group (AEA) working in the Aveiro Prison Establishment (EPA), in the education and professional training of prisoners who attend Adult Education and Training Courses (EFA), at the different levels. B1, B2, B3 and Secondary. This is a qualitative research, which followed a methodological approach of approaching Action Research (AI), centred on the EPA case study, in order to know the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis in the organization, management and development of inmates’ school activities. As techniques for collecting and producing data, semi-structured interviews with trainees, teachers, trainers and the direction of the EPA were privileged; records of the direct interactions of the researcher with the EPA population (in the visits area of the Prison facility, separated by the acrylic glass window); records of the inmates autonomous work activities, mediated by EPA’s Direction. As a technique for analysing and processing data, content analysis of all the information collected, was privileged. The results reveal the existence of further constraints in the organization and management of the educational resources applied to the teaching activities in a prison environment, far outreaching the limitations already existing in a non-pandemic context.

Fromm, Foucault, Garland, and prison education

Fromm, Foucault, Garland, and prison education

خدمات مکتبات السجون ودورها في تثقيف وإعادة تأهيل نزلاء المؤسسات الإصلاحية

هدفت الدراسة النظرية إلى التعرف على الخدمات المکتبية التي توفرها مکتبات السجون، ودورها في إعادة تأهيل نزلاء المؤسسات الإصلاحية. واعتمدت الدراسة اعتمادا رئيسيا على المنهج الوثائقي للتنظير في المصادر العربية والأجنبية المتوافرة في هذا المجال، لتحقيق هدف الدراسة في إطار منهجي نظري عن مکتبات السجون حول العالم والتعرف على أهم الخدمات والمصادر التي يجب توافرها لتثقيف وإعادة تأهيل رواد هذا النوع من المکتبات. تناقش الدراسة مدى المساهمة الفعالة لخدمات مکتبات السجون في تثقيف وتأهيل السجناء، وما المصادر التي يجب توافرها في مکتبات السجون لخدمة المستفيدين من نزلاء المؤسسات الإصلاحية. وقد خلصت الدراسة إلى عدد من المقترحات والتوصيات التي يمکن للمسؤولين عن مکتبات السجون في دولة الکويت والدول العربية المجاورة والتي تسمح سياساتها الحکومية بوجود مکتبات في السجون، مع الأخذ بالمعايير الدولية واعتماد خدمات فعالة في تثقيف وإعادة تأهيل نزلاء المؤسسات الإصلاحية. The theoretical study aimed at identifying the services provided by prison libraries and their role in the rehabilitation of the inmates of correctional institutions. The study relies mainly on the documentary approach to theorization in Arabic and foreign sources available in this field in order to achieve the objective of the study within a theoretical framework about prison libraries around the world and identify the most important services and rsources that should be made available to educate and rehabilitate the people who frequent this type of libraries. The study discusses the effective contribution of the services provided by prison libraries to the education and rehabilitation of prisoners, and the sources that should be made available at prison libraries to serve the inmates of correctional institutions. The study camne up with some suggestions and recommendations that will be benefitional to the officials in charge of prison libraries in the State of Kuwait and neighboring Arab countries whose governmental policies sanction the presence of libraries in prisons, taking international standards into account, and putting in place effective services to educate and rehabilitate the inmates of correctional institutions.

Adult education, human rights, and the problem of incarceration in Chile

AbstractBased on case study research, this article analyzes a specific example of youth and adult prison education in Chile from the perspective of the movement for human rights.

A social ecological model (SEM) to exploring barriers of and facilitators to the implementation of opioid agonist treatment (OAT) programmes in prisons.

Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) programmes in prisons play a significant role in preventing the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Despite its proven effectiveness, both the availability and coverage of prison OAT programmes remain low. This Indonesian study explores facilitators of, and barriers to, the delivery of methadone programmes in prisons using the social ecological model (SEM). The study used a qualitative case study approach comprising two prisons with, and one prison without, methadone programmes. Purposive and snowball sampling was used to recruit study participants. In total, 57 in-depth interviews were conducted with prison governors, health-care staff, prison officers and prisoners. Data was analysed thematically. The study findings identified facilitators of and barriers to the delivery of prison OAT programmes at all three levels of the SEM as follows: intrapersonal barriers including misperceptions relating to HIV transmission, the harm reduction role of OAT programmes, methadone dependency and withdrawal symptoms; interpersonal barriers such as inflexible OAT treatment processes and the wide availability of illicit drugs in prisons and; social-structural barriers, notably the general lack of resources. The findings highlight the importance of and overlap between, organisational and inter-personal, as well as intrapersonal factors. Such an approach is particularly important in the context of the implementation and delivery of methadone programmes in low/middle income countries, where the lack of resources is so significant. Three main strategies for improvement were suggested as follows: the development of comprehensive education and training programmes for prisoners and all prison staff; the re-assessment of practices relating to the delivery of methadone, and a comprehensive review of harm reduction strategy in prisons, that should consider the role of prisoners' families to increase support for prisoner participation; the re-assessment of prison policies to support the delivery of methadone programmes in prisons. The author suggests that ongoing international support and national drug policies are vital to the continuation and sustainability of methadone programmes in prisons. This study contributes to the overall evidence base for OAT programmes in middle-income prison contexts.

Prison Officer Training and Education: A Scoping Review of the Published Literature

The role of the prison officer is complex and challenging. In order to discharge their duties effectively, prison officers require relevant and comprehensive training and education upon recruitment and throughout their working career. The following paper presents the findings of a scoping review of the published literature as it relates to the training and education of prison officers. Employing a descriptive-analytical approach, we stratified this literature into three overarching themes; namely entry-level training and education programs, emerging issues and developments in prison officer training, and specialist health and well-being training programs. Findings are discussed with reference to significant current trends in the literature and potential areas of future research and practice.

Devastation and innovation: examining prison education during a national pandemic

PurposeThis paper aims to highlight the impact that Covid-19 has had on the quality of education in prisons. This study considers the restrictive approaches taken by Her Majesty’s Prison Service during this challenging time, to argue that prisoner education is not being adequately prioritised. This study highlight issues relating to the digital divide in prisons and the lack of technological advancement, which could improve educational continuity and in-cell learning.Design/methodology/approachThis study provides an examination of the broad impact the national pandemic has had on prisons and punishment, Covid-19 National Frameworks and policies relating to prison restrictions, the movements within prisoner education policy, scholarship and reflections from delivering Learning Together in HMP Full Sutton, to argue that prisoners are at the bottom of the educational hierarchy in terms of delivery, innovation and prioritisation of learner needs. However, this study proposes that some of the technologically enhanced learning is a potential solution, to transform educational equity and to reduce the digital divide.FindingsThis study highlights that education in prisons has taken a sudden and substantial deterioration. Findings suggest that there are few signs of this improving in the immediate future due to ongoing national restrictions. The Covid-19 prison restrictions further demonstrate the neglect of prisoners' educational needs. In addition, the national pandemic has highlighted the lack of use of technology within educational delivery in prisoners. However, findings suggest that through engaging digital learning platforms and the greater inclusions of technology in prisons, they can enhance educational opportunities and inclusive experiences for isolated learners.Research limitations/implicationsThis is a study piece with support from a review of policy and scholarship. This is not based on data collected with serving prisoners during the national pandemic.Originality/valueThis study provides an overview of the current restrictions and lockdowns in prison associated with the national pandemic. Contemporary consideration to this underexplored area is essential to highlight the severe deprivations of prisoners and the fundamental impact this has had on educational delivery and much anticipated progression. Nuanced approaches to increase the use of technology within prison education are considered, in light of the challenges the pandemic has spotlighted.

Education behind bars and beyond prison: incarcerated women’s education aspirations and barriers in Ukraine

ABSTRACT The Constitution of Ukraine mandates that the complete secondary education be compulsory. While women have access to free secondary education in prisons, this constitutional requirement is not enforced across all prisons. Furthermore, higher education is not easily accessible in prison and is further fraught with challenges post incarceration. This qualitative research study draws on the conceptual framework of adult education motivations and barriers. Conducted in a minimum-security prison for women in Ukraine, it illuminates incarcerated women’s education experiences, post-secondary education aspirations, and barriers. The findings, derived from interviews with 21 women, four teachers, and eight staff, elucidate how incarcerated women downplayed the institutional, situational, and dispositional barriers. Instead, they focused on what I term ideological barriers. The study sheds light on the need to expand the framework of education barriers by including ideological barriers couched in the dominant neoliberal belief system of individual will and accountability.

Unseen roots and unfolding flowers? Prison learning, equality and the education of socially excluded groups

The objective of this theoretical article is to critique the notion that adult education, in its current marketised formations, might serve the purpose of rehabilitating learners. To date there has been no detailed interrogation by educationalists of the desirability of rehabilitation as an overarching aim for prison education, or to consider the existing educational philosophies that notions of rehabilitation might cohere with. This article begins to address this gap by engaging with the idea of rehabilitation from a critical adult education perspective. The conceptual framework informing the analysis is critical adult education theory, drawing tangentially on the work of Raymond Williams. The overarching assumption is that education might be understood as the practice of equality, which I employ alongside conceptualisations of empowering adult literacies learning as drawn from writings in the field of New Literacies Studies (NLS). These approaches enable the critique of criminological theory associated with prison learning, alongside the critique of assumptions traceable to NLS. The analysis focuses more specifically on Scotland’s prison system, where the criminological theory of ‘desistance’ currently holds some sway. I observe that whilst perspectives of criminologists and educationists draw upon similar sociological assumptions and underpinnings, different conclusions are inferred about the purpose and practice of adult learning. Here criminologists' conceptualisations tend to neglect power contexts, instead inferring educational practices associated typically with early years education. I also demonstrate the importance of equality in the context of adult education, if educators are to take responsibility for the judgements they make in relation to the education of socially excluded groups.

Developing Social Skills in the Prison Context – Results from the Implementation of a Training Program with Prisoners

Non-formal education programs play an important role in the rehabilitation process of prisoners. It provides the opportunity for prisoners to engage in useful activities in the prison context, improves their employment prospects after release, facilitates the process of their personal development and transformation and enhances their prospects of developing the motivation, autonomy and responsibility to gain control over their lives after their release. This study aims to present the results of a non-formal education program developed within the context of a curricular internship project, carried out at a Penitentiary Establishment, located in the North of Portugal. The project is part of the third year of a Bachelor Degree programme in Social Education at Portucalense University, which took place from october 2018 to june 2019. The project was organized in four main phases: diagnosis, planning, execution and evaluation. The methods for data collection used were document analysis, observation and questionnaires. The participants in the training program included ten prisoners who kindly volunteered to participate in the training program. The pedagogical strategies used in the training were: role-playing, brainstorming, and self-evaluation grids. The results revealed a positive view by participants and changes in their individual behaviour. Implications of the study and future work will be presented and discussed along the paper. Keywords: Social Education, Prison Education, Non-Formal Education, Development of Social Skills, Training Programme DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-11-06 Publication date: June 30 th 2021