Education needed in prisons
Campus Times
December 6, 1996
The Educational Programs in Corrections (EPIC) organization at ULV states
"We believe that it is the right of each person to receive an education
as close in quality and substantive measure to that he or she would receive
on the outside." EPIC offers value-based, post-secondary instruction
to inmates of correctional facilities in California. If a prison sentence
is a time for rehabilitation, than it should be used as such.
Rehabilitation time should be spent learning and being educated, instead
of lifting weights or enjoying other recreational activities. Currently,
more prisons offer such perks as hotel-quality meals, cable television and
exercise facilities than education programs.
More books should be provided instead of heavier weights. One step in
the right direction is a magazine for inmates. This is not a bad thing to
have. In fact, it could be very beneficial if it was based on better ways
to educate inmates. Instead of spending money on amenities for inmates,
such as HBO, the inmates should have bigger and better libraries.
Most prisoners will only serve less than their entire sentence. When
this happens, rehabilitation is not working. Many inmates are serving their
second and third sentences. When an inmate is not learning any skills to
help them get back on their feet mentally, emotionally and financially after
being released from prison, incarceration stops being about rehabilitation.
Sixty-six percent of released convicts return to prison. Eighty percent
of inmates who earn four-year college degrees while in prison, never return
to prison. Therefore, prison education lowers the risk of recidivism. Inmates
who are released without the counseling and education necessary for rehabilitation
have an increased chance of committing more crimes.
More than $30,000 a year is being paid by taxpayers to incarcerate 4,000
prisoners in each state. Much of our government's money is being put into
various prison education programs. In the 1995 fiscal year, the Adult Education
Act, which funds people institutionalized in prisons, set aside what amounted
to $25 million. Likewise, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology
Education Act, set aside $9.5 million for correctional education uses. Acts
like these are positive and much-needed in today's society.
Education is an instrumental role in prisons as well as a positive factor
for inmates who want to be educated. By educating inmates, the programs
are not just handing out degrees with their dinner. The inmates have to
work hard to pass high school equivalency exams and receive vocational training
and college degrees. Each degree is earned. Within the walls of the classrooms
is academic and personal growth.
An educated person who has learned to live without committing crimes
can play an integral role in society. With job skills and an education,
they would not have the need to commit crimes and the number of inmates
serving long sentences would go down.