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The effects of prison education programs: Research findings

2014 metastudy from the RAND Corporation of correctional-education programs in the United States, summarizing their main achievements and the challenges they face.

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by Martin Maximino, The Journalist's Resource June 3, 2014

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The United States has the largest prison population in the world, with more than 2.2 million inmates in federal, state and local facilities. Although the number of life sentences has quadrupled since 1984, every year approximately 700,000 citizens leave federal and state prisons in the United States to begin a new life. Moreover, the number of releases from U.S. prisons in 2012 exceeded that of admissions for the fourth consecutive year, contributing to a slight decline in the total U.S. prison population.

The professional and personal lives of these individuals after they leave prison show great variety, across different states and income levels. Many ex-offenders struggle to reintegrate into their communities and face significant challenges in re-entering the job market. In this context, recidivism often ensues: The Pew Center on the States suggests that perhaps half of all inmates released will return within three years.

But the story of their life challenges typically begins even before conviction and prison time. A 2014 U.S. National Research Council report, authored by some of the nation’s leading criminal justice scholars, notes:

Many people enter prison with educational deficits and could benefit from education while incarcerated. Literacy rates among prisoners generally are low, and substantially lower than in the general population…. Over the past 40 years, the percentage of prisoners having completed high school at the time of their incarceration fluctuated between about one-quarter and more than one-third for state prison inmates, with higher rates for those housed in federal facilities.

The report also discusses the recent policy dynamics associated with prison education:

On a positive note, basic correctional education programs have been enhanced in response to “mandatory education laws” at both the state and federal levels, requiring prisoners who score below a certain threshold on a standardized test to participate while in prison. Since the Federal Bureau of Prisons implemented the first mandatory literacy program in the early 1980s, 44 percent of states have instituted such requirements…. On the other hand, as part of the “get tough” movement discussed earlier, in 1994 Congress restricted inmates from receiving Pell grants, which had been enacted and funded by Congress in the 1970s as a way for disadvantaged groups to obtain postsecondary education. Moreover, reductions in federal funding under the Workforce Investment Act cut funding for correctional education to a maximum of 10 percent (from a minimum of 10 percent).

A 2014 study published by RAND Corporation, “How Effective is Correctional Education, and Where Do We Go from Here?” critically analyzes results across 267 empirical studies, performing what is called research “metaanalysis.” The researchers — Lois M. Davis, Jennifer L. Steele, Robert Bozick, Malcolm V. Williams, Susan Turner, Jeremy N. V. Miles, Jessica Saunders and Paul S. Steinberg — present a rigorous and systematic review of correctional education programs in the United States, as well as the results of a national survey to state correctional education directors, summarizing the main achievements and challenges faced by the field. The overall analysis suggests that correctional education has a positive and statistically significant effect on three domains that are key for reinsertion into civil society: recidivism (going back to prison because of additional crimes), post-release employment, and reading and math scores. The RAND research is designed to provide the best available evidence to help inform federal policy, following the Second Chance Act of 2007 .

The study’s findings include:

Inmates who participated in correctional education programs had “43% lower odds of recidivating than inmates who did not.” This represents a reduction of 13 percentage points on the risk of recidivism.
The odds of obtaining employment after being released among inmates who participated in correctional education were 13 percent higher than the odds for those who did not. However, the scholarship in this area is not as strong, making the conclusion subject to further research.
Correctional education is a cost effective initiative; every dollar spent on prison education could save up to five dollars on three-year reincarceration costs. In this sense, the direct costs of reincarceration are far greater than the direct costs of providing correctional education.
The study also found that for a correctional education program to be cost-effective — or to break even — it would need to “reduce the three-year reincarceration rate by between 1.9 percentage points and 2.6 percentage points.”
The overall “meta-analytic findings indicate that participation in correctional education programs is associated with a 13 percentage-point reduction in the risk of reincarceration three years following release. Thus, correctional education programs appear to far exceed the break-even point in reducing the risk of reincarceration.”
Overall, the mean dollars spent per student for correctional education was $3,479 in FY2009, compared with $3,370 in FY2012. This represented a 5% decrease on average in the dollars spent per student.

The report also presents the results of the RAND Correctional Education Survey, which show that, due to the economic recession of 2008, there was an overall 6 percent decrease on average in states’ correctional education budgets between fiscal years 2009 and 2012. The largest impact on budgets was felt by medium-sized and large states (on average, a 20 percent and 10 percent decrease, respectively). Nevertheless, despite the contraction after the recession, most states (44) still offered adult basic education.

One of the most interesting contributions of the RAND study is to shift the discussion from whether these correctional educational programs should exist, to what type and quality of programs would be more effective. In this discussion, the authors identify several promising initiatives: Read 180 (for reading improvement); and Florida’s Avon Park Youth Academy (for diploma completion and post-release employment).

About The Author

Martin Maximino

Libraries | Research Guides

Prison education.

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Accompaniment Through Carceral Geographies: Abolitionist Research Partnerships with Indigenous Communities Laurel Mei-Singh (Antipode, 2019)
Critiquing Critical Pedagogies Inside the Prison Classroom: A Dialogue Between Student and Teacher Erin L. Castro and Michael Brawn (Harvard Educational Review, 2017)
Distinguishing Radical Teaching from Merely Having Intense Experiences While Teaching in Prison Robert Scott (The Radical Teacher, 2013)
Information Needs in Prisons and Jails: A Discourse Analytic Approach Debbie Rabina, Emily Drabinski and Laurin Paradise (Libri, 2016)
An Open Letter to Prison Educators Malakki (from Critical Perspective on Teaching in Prison, 2019)
Ripping Off Some Room for People to "Breathe Together": Peer-to-Peer Education in Prison Simone Weil Davis and Bruce Michaels (Social Justice, 2015)
Systemic Oppression and the Contested Ground of Information Access for Incarcerated People Jeanie Austin, Melissa Charenko, Michelle Dillon and Jodi Lincoln (Open Information Science, 2020)
Teaching Publics in the American Penalscape Gillian Harkins and Erica R. Meiners (American Quarterly, 2016)

For more articles on prison education, please start with this search of the library catalog .

For more books on prison education, please start with this search of the library catalog .

National Conference on Higher Education in Prison The annual National Conference on Higher Education in Prison (NCHEP) is not only an event—it's a lifeline for the community of people who are committed to expanding educational opportunities for students who are currently or formerly incarcerated.
Rise Up Conference Rise Up Conference is a two-day virtual event organized by formerly incarcerated leaders and centered.
American Prison Newspapers, 1800-2020: Voices from the Inside American Prison Newspapers brings together hundreds of these periodicals from across the country into one collection that will represent penal institutions of all kinds, with special attention paid to women's-only institutions.
Mass Incarceration and Prison Studies Mass Incarceration and Prison Studies is organized around a selection of key historical and contemporary events and themes, bringing together archival and reference materials, court cases, first-hand accounts, videos, Supreme Court audio files, research on rehabilitation, training materials and artistic works.
Alliance for Higher Education in Prison We are working collaboratively to advance the field of higher education in prison by supporting practitioners and students, producing reliable data and research, and communicating the need, importance, and value of quality higher education in prison.
Carceral Studies Network The Carceral Studies Network hosts resources for those seeking to teach or learn about prisons, policing, and the carceral state.
College & Community Fellowship CCF works at the intersection of racial equity, criminal legal reform, economic justice, and community building. We are one of the first organizations to focus on access to higher education for justice-involved women.
Higher Education in Prison Research A digital space centered around the creation of a robust, ethical, and sustainable higher education in prison research infrastructure.
JSTOR Prison Education Offline Access Initiative We aim to create a next-generation tool to support incarcerated students conducting research without access to the internet. We will test this tool at a cohort of prison education programs, in order to make a recommendation regarding how to provide full access to JSTOR to as many higher education in prison programs as possible.
Prison-to-Professionals (P2P) Prison-to-Professionals (P2P) seeks to reach, touch, and change the lives of people with criminal convictions through advocacy, mentoring, and policy change.
Incarceration Incarceration is a peer-reviewed, international journal publishing high quality original scholarship dealing with prisons and prison-like institutions and practices.
International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy The International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy is an open access, blind peer reviewed journal that seeks to publish critical research about common challenges confronting criminal justice systems around the world.
Journal of Correctional Education The Journal of Correctional Education is the foremost publication of the Correctional Education Association (CEA). The Journal is published on a quarterly basis and is provided as a membership benefit by CEA.
Journal of Higher Education in Prison The Journal of Higher Education in Prison is the only peer-reviewed journal that publishes solely on topics and issues in higher education in prison. The journal, published twice-annually by the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison, provides the growing field of higher education in prison a forum to discuss praxis and the ways that theory can and should inform teaching and learning in prison.
Journal of Prison Education & Reentry An international, open access, peer-reviewed journal for researchers and practitioners. Topics covered include but are not limited to sociology, criminology, adult education and literacy, instructional design, mental and behavioral health, and administration and policy as it relates to the context of prisoner education and subsequent reentry into the community beyond prison walls.
Journal of Prisoners on Prison The Journal of Prisoners on Prisons (JPP) is a prisoner written, academically oriented and peer reviewed, non-profit journal, based on the tradition of the penal press. It brings the knowledge produced by prison writers together with academic arguments to enlighten public discourse about the current state of carceral institutions.
The Prison Journal The Prison Journal (TPJ), peer-reviewed and published six times a year, is a central forum for studies, ideas, and discussions of adult and juvenile confinement, treatment interventions, and alternative sanctions. Exploring broad themes of punishment and correctional intervention, TPJ advances theory, research, policy and practice.
Cultivating Relationships & Building Support: A Guide to College-in-Prison Program Sustainability Rachel Sander et al. (SUNY Higher Education for the Justice-Involved, 2021)
The Expanding Role of Colleges in Prison Education Katherine Mangan (Chronicle of Higher Education, 2021)
Facilitating a Higher Education in Prison Research Infrastructure Meagan Wilson, Rayane Alamuddin, Julia Karon, Michael Fried, and Emily Norweg (Ithaka S+R, 2021)
Higher Education in Prison: Understanding its Power and Fulfilling its Promise in Illinois [PDF] By Marsheda Ewulomi and Ashton Hoselton (BPI Chicago, 2022)
Unbarring Access: A Landscape Review of Postsecondary Education in Prison and Its Pedagogical Supports Meagan Wilson, Rayane Alamuddin, Danielle Cooper (Ithaka S+R, 2019)
College Behind Bars A four-part documentary film series directed by award-winning filmmaker Lynn Novick, produced by Sarah Botstein, and executive produced by Ken Burns, tells the story of a small group of incarcerated men and women struggling to earn college degrees and turn their lives around in one of the most rigorous and effective prison education programs in the United States.
The Past and Future of Prison Education Representatives from the most innovative and dynamic programs in the country testify to the range, scope, and depth of prison education. Organizers highlight the work that has been done at Harvard, and what's next.
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Last Updated: Mar 21, 2024 9:27 AM
URL: https://libguides.northwestern.edu/prison-education

Research Finds Prison Education Programs Reduce Recidivism

Programs help ex-offenders and save taxpayers money .

MIDLAND, Mich. — The highest quality research on prison education and workforce programs shows a positive impact on recidivism rates, earnings and employment opportunities for participants. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy released a summary of this research — the largest meta-analysis on the topic to date. The complete analysis will be published in an academic journal later this year.

Steven Sprick Schuster and Ben Stickle authored the report, working with the Political Economy Research Institute at Middle Tennessee State University. They are both professors at the university — Sprick Schuster in economics and Stickle in criminal justice administration.

They found in their review of published research that prison workforce and education programs reduce the likelihood of recidivism by 14.8%. The findings also show positive employment benefits for former offenders, including a 6.9% increase in the likelihood of employment and an extra $131 in quarterly wages.

“This research makes clear that investment in prison-based education and workforce training programs produces both safer communities and positive economic returns,” said David Guenthner, vice president for government affairs at the Mackinac Center. “We all benefit from having more ex-offenders equipped to earn their success in the workforce.”

The United States has the sixth highest prison population, with five in 1,000 people behind bars. The cost of incarcerating so many people is steep. Taxpayers spend an estimated $182 billion a year to house prisoners, pay police, and provide for courts, health care, and additional expenses. Given that many prisoners are reoffenders, some states have turned to education and workforce training in an effort to reduce recidivism and prison costs.

This meta-analysis compiled 148 results from 78 of the highest-quality research papers and studies. It used those estimates to evaluate the average effects prison educational programs have on prisoner recidivism, employment and wages. The findings are divided out by educational level, including adult basic education, high school and GED programs, vocational training and college.

Sprick Schuster and Stickle also calculated the return on investment of these programs. They found that college education programs produce the best benefit for participants, while work training provides the best return on investment from a taxpayer’s perspective. The ROI for each program was positive and that does not include many indirect benefits of lowering recidivism rates, such as fewer victims of criminal behavior and other indirect costs of crime.

Giving former offenders a better chance of success upon reentry into society should be a priority. Unfortunately, very few inmates have the opportunity to take advantage of these programs.

“Even in more forward-thinking states like Michigan, only a minuscule percentage of the inmates released back into society have access to these programs,” said Guenthner. “We will work with our research team and policymakers to lay out a path to substantially expanding these programs.”

Read the summary of the meta-analysis’ findings here .

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a nonprofit research and educational institute that advances the principles of free markets and limited government. Through our research and education programs, we challenge government overreach and advocate for a free-market approach to public policy that frees people to realize their potential and dreams.

Please consider contributing to our work to advance a freer and more prosperous state.

The societal benefits of postsecondary prison education

Subscribe to how we rise, alexandra gibbons and ag alexandra gibbons research intern - governance studies rashawn ray rashawn ray senior fellow - governance studies @sociologistray.

August 20, 2021

It is hard to overstate the benefits of providing postsecondary education to incarcerated students. The incarcerated population has lower average education levels than the general population, which, coupled with the stigma of a criminal record, makes it difficult for returning citizens to find jobs—especially if they are Black . Individuals who enroll in postsecondary education programs are 48% less likely to be reincarcerated than those who do not, and the odds of being employed post-release are 12% higher for individuals who participate in any type of correctional education. Estimates suggest that for every $1 spent on correctional education, $4 to $5 are saved on reincarceration costs . Additionally, individuals who complete college courses are eligible for higher-paying jobs compared to people without a college education.

Beyond fiscal benefits and inspiring stories of transformation , postsecondary prison education programs are inextricably linked to advancing racial equity, especially given inequality in K-12 education that feeds low-income Black and Latinx students into the school-to-prison pipeline . The prison population is disproportionately comprised of people from racially segregated low-income communities. Individuals returning home from prison with college credentials play an important role in encouraging family members and friends to pursue additional education.

There are significant differences in the racial makeup of the U.S. college population compared to that of Second Chance Pell , a pilot program that funds selected college-in-prison programs. As of 2018, Black students represented 13.4% of college students and 30% of Second Chance Pell students, according to surveys of Second Chance Pell programs by the Vera Institute of Justice.

That said, relative to their share of the U.S. prison population, white students are overrepresented in Second Chance Pell prison-education programs, Black students constitute roughly the same share of both populations, and Latinx students are underrepresented. Second Chance Pell programs seem to be growing slightly more diverse as time goes on—Black students made up 34% of Second Chance Pell students in 2020 , up from 30% in 2018 , and white students made up 41% of Second Chance Pell students in 2020, decreasing from 50% in 2018.

The 1994 crime bill banned incarcerated college students from accessing federal Pell Grants. Many states followed suit, banning incarcerated students from using state-level tuition aid programs. For instance, New York prohibited incarcerated students from accessing its Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) in 1995. The impact was extreme and swift: Between 1995 and 1996 , the number of postsecondary prison education programs in New York fell from 25 to four, and the number of incarcerated postsecondary students shrank from 3,445 to 256. Today, prison-education programs rely primarily on private donations, along with funding from the Second Chance Pell program, constraining the number of students that they can serve. Programs in New York had an average acceptance rate of only 33% in 2014 , and 95% of programs surveyed indicated that they could reach more students if additional financial aid was available.

Federal and state tuition-assistance programs play vital roles in supporting postsecondary prison education programs. Incarcerated people have median incomes 41% lower that other people their ages prior to being incarcerated, and are paid extremely low wages for their work in prison, much of which is deducted or used to pay for things such as medical care and personal necessities from commissary. Sixty-four percent of people in state and federal prisons are academically qualified for postsecondary prison education programs, yet as of 2014, only 9% of incarcerated individuals completed college courses while in prison.

At the end of 2020, Congress finally restored access to Pell Grants for incarcerated students, and that new provision will go into effect by July 1, 2023. Some states are also taking steps to bolster access to college in prison. Michigan granted incarcerated students access to its TAP in 2019, and New Jersey accorded access to state financial aid in 2020, joining D.C. and 17 other states without explicit barriers preventing incarcerated students from accessing state financial-aid programs. Ruth Delaney and Juan Martinez-Hill of the Vera Institute of Justice are currently conducting research on how the federal Pell Grant restoration will impact incarcerated students’ access to state financial-aid programs. Multiple states tie eligibility for their state financial-aid programs to Pell Grant eligibility. As such, Delaney and Martinez-Hill expect that once Pell restoration takes effect, the number of states without barriers precluding incarcerated students from accessing state financial aid will increase.

Yet, numerous states continue to ban incarcerated students from accessing state financial-aid programs, including states with some of the largest prison populations in the U.S., such as New York, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, students must be of “satisfactory character” to access the Pennsylvania State Grant Program . The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency has deemed all incarcerated individuals to be of unsatisfactory character, a racist categorization that overlooks the capacity of all people to grow.

Restoring state financial-aid access across all states to students enrolled in postsecondary prison education programs is both fiscally responsible and a moral imperative given the long history of racial injustice in the United States. The cost of doing so would be relatively small. For example, if New York gave incarcerated students access to TAP again, it would account for less than 1% of the TAP budget, and it could save the state between $22 and $27.5 million annually on reincarceration costs.

Given the dramatic payoff of postsecondary prison education, it is clear that such programs are a powerful—and cost effective—tool for rehabilitation and renewal. There are many valuable components of criminal justice reform , but we should not ignore the benefits of education and its ability to put people back on track to meaningful opportunities.

Current Issue: Volume 8, Issue 1 (2023)

Research papers.

Understanding Incarcerated Education: A Review of the Digital and Gender Inequality Impacts of Accessibility and Inclusivity of Higher Education for Incarcerated Students Bianca R. Parry PhD

Prisons and Universities: Co-creating curricula for prison-university partnerships. Michela Scalpello

Graying Incarcerated Persons and Education Programs in Nigerian Correctional Centre Ijeoma B. Uche PhD, Agnes E. Okafor PhD, and Okala A. Uche PhD *corresponding author

An Evidence-Based Approach To Prison Library Provision: Aligning Policy and Practice Jayne Finlay, Susannah Hanlon, and Jessica Bates

The Changing Nature of Education in Youth Justice Centres in New South Wales (Australia) Laura Metcalfe, Cathy Little Dr, Garner Clancey Dr, and David Evans Dr

Understanding the Challenges of Perspective Transformation in Prison: Biographical Narratives of Foreign National Students of a Second Chance School in Greece Antigoni K. Efstratoglou and George A. Koulaouzides

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Correctional education and the school-to-prison pipeline

On this page, the Prison Policy Initiative has curated all of the research about the intersection of the criminal justice system and education that we know of. For research on other criminal justice topics, see our Research Library homepage.

(New) Degrees of difference: Do college credentials earned behind bars improve labor market outcomes? Abby Ballou, March, 2024 “Employers presented with an applicant who earned a bachelor's degree or sub-baccalaureate certificate in prison had a 42 percent higher odds of indicating willingness to call back the applicant, compared to an applicant with a GED (p = .001).”
(New) Racial and ethnic differences in the consequences of school suspension for arrest Benjamin W. Fisher & Alex O. Widdowson, June, 2023 “Within a given wave of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort, students who experienced an increase in suspension also experienced an increase of approximately 56.2% in their odds of being arrested in that same wave.”
The Well-Being Impacts Associated with College in Prison: A Comparison of Incarcerated and Non-Incarcerated Students Who Identify as Women Paywall :( Sarah Y. Moore and Tanya Erzen, November, 2022 “[The students'] measures of well-being, coping, and academic engagement were significantly better than the matched non-incarcerated sample for most measures.”
Unlocking College: Strengthening Massachusetts' Commitment to College in Prison The Boston Foundation, October, 2022 “In Massachusetts, the average annual cost to incarcerate someone in a DOC facility is $92,000, significantly higher than a year of even the most expensive college program in the state.”
The state prison experience: Too much drudgery, not enough opportunity Prison Policy Initiative, September, 2022 “The Survey data reveal that only 43% of people in state prisons have participated in educational programming (even though 62% had not completed high school upon admission).”
Double Punished: Locked Out of Opportunity Bellwether Education Partners, June, 2022 “In many states, we found that multiple agencies are involved in supporting juvenile justice education, creating a system of fragmented responsibility.”
The Effects of College in Prison and Policy Implications Paywall :( Matthew G. T. Denney and Robert Tynes, December, 2021 “We employ a design-based approach to infer the causal effect of participation in [a college-in-prison program]. We find a large and significant reduction in recidivism rates.”
Access, Success, and Challenges in College-in-Prison Programs within the State University of New York Higher Education for the Justice-Involved, State Univ. of New York, December, 2021 “It is difficult for newly released prisoners to continue their education, and our data indicate that few do. Most face immediate challenges in securing housing, jobs, transportation, and identification, let alone stress in [reentry adjustment].”
Back-to-School Action Guide: Re-Engaging Students and Closing the School-to-Prison Pipeline Sentencing Project, August, 2021 “Unless schools tap the resources of community partners and aggressively embrace promising new approaches, many young people will likely be criminalized or excluded from school due to predictable behavior problems.”
Understanding the Landscape of Higher Education in Prison Survey 2018-2019 A Confidential Follow-up to the 2020 Annual Survey of Higher Education in Prison Programs Alliance for HIgher Education in Prison, July, 2021 “The survey aimed to illuminate program demographics, program funding, use of technology, student enrollment, and program data collection and evaluation, and the associated challenges and opportunities.”(See the five linked data briefs that describe the survey's findings.)
Adolescent Protective and Risk Factors for Incarceration through Early Adulthood Paywall :( Elizabeth S. Barnert et al, April, 2021 “Adolescent protective factors against incarceration onset and higher incarceration frequency centered on education, including a higher grade point average and a higher likelihood of having future plans to attend college.”
Are Effects of School Resource Officers Moderated by Student Race and Ethnicity? Paywall :( Scott Crosse et al., March, 2021 “We found that increases in offenses and exclusionary reactions due to increased SRO presence were most evident for Black and Hispanic as opposed to White students.”
Credit Overdue: How States Can Mitigate Academic Credit Transfer Problems for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System Southern Poverty Law Center, October, 2020 “The findings confirmed that youth frequently don't receive credit for the work they complete while in juvenile justice facilities.”
Supporting Success: The Higher Education in Prison Key Performance Indicator Framework Institute for Higher Education Policy, September, 2020 “Better understanding of student outcomes, academic quality, civic engagement, and soft skill development associated with higher education in prison will help both practitioners and policymakers.”
Effects of school resource officers on school crime and responses to school crime Gottfredson et al., July, 2020 “The study findings suggest that increasing SROs does not improve school safety and that by increasing exclusionary responses to school discipline incidents it increases the criminalization of school discipline.”
Reversing the Pipeline to Prison in Texas: How to Ensure Safe Schools AND Safe Students Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, February, 2020 “Traditional, punitive models of student discipline are not only ineffective, but harmful to students and communities.”
Laying the Groundwork: How States Can Improve Access to Continued Education for People in the Criminal Justice System Council of State Governments Justice Center, February, 2020 “These findings highlight how far all states have to go to adopt the statewide postsecondary education policies and practices necessary to help incarcerated people transition to leading productive lives in the community.”
School Discipline, Safety, and Climate: A Comprehensive Study in New York City Center for Court Innovation, October, 2019 “Students with disabilities, those who were chronically absent, and those who were economically disadvantaged were more likely to be arrested than their counterparts.”
Criminal records and college admissions: A modified experimental audit Robert Stewart and Christopher Uggen, October, 2019 “We find that applicants with prior criminal records were rejected at arate approximately 3 times higher than applicants without records from colleges that require criminal history information.”
The Construction and Criminalization of Disability in School Incarceration Jyoti Nanda, September, 2019 “For students of color, instead of a designation that attracts more resources, disability is one of the mechanisms through which they are criminalized.”
Literature Locked Up: How Prison Book Restriction Policies Constitute the Nation's Largest Book Ban Pen America, September, 2019 “With over two million Americans incarcerated, the book-restriction regulations within the United States carceral system represent the largest book ban policy in the United States.”
Since You Asked: How did the 1994 crime bill affect prison college programs? Prison Policy Initiative, August, 2019 “Without federal aid, the rate of college course participation in prisons dropped by half.”
The School to Prison Pipeline: Long-Run Impacts of School Suspensions on Adult Crime Andrew Bacher-Hicks, Stephen B. Billings, and David J. Deming, August, 2019 “Students who are quasi-randomly assigned to schools with higher conditional suspension rates are significantly more likely to be arrested and incarcerated as adults.”
A Piece of the Puzzle: State Financial Aid for Incarcerated Students Vera Institute of Justice, July, 2019 “Partnering with colleges and universities to provide postsecondary programs can help state corrections agencies meet institutional goals related to evidence-based practices and recidivism reduction.”
Aggressive Policing and Academic Outcomes: Examining the Impact of Police Joscha Legewie, Chelsea Farley, Kayla Stewart, May, 2019 “Aggressive policing in communities can harm Black boys' educational performance, as measured by state tests.”
Unlocking Potential: Pathways from Prison to Postsecondary Education Vera Institute of Justice, May, 2019 (The presence of higher education in prisons has the potential to reshape the ways in which incarcerated people--and their future potential--are viewed, by shifting the perspectives of corrections staff, faculty, administrators, families and students.)
Evaluation of North Carolina's Pathways from Prison to Postsecondary Education Program RAND Corporation, May, 2019 “Housing, employment, and transportation were among the top referrals to services provided to Pathways students, followed by family and substance abuse treatment services.”
Does Locked Up Mean Locked Out? The Effects of the Anti-Drug Act of 1986 on Black Male Students' College Enrollment Tolani Britton, April, 2019 “The results suggest that Black males had a 2.2% point decrease in the relative probability of college enrollment after the passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986.”
Investing in Futures: Economic and Fiscal Benefits of Postsecondary Education in Prison Vera Institute of Justice, January, 2019 “Expanding access to postsecondary education in prison is likely to reduce recidivism rates, resulting in a decrease in incarceration costs across states of $365.8 million per year.”
Can Restorative Practices Improve School Climate and Curb Suspensions? RAND Corporation, December, 2018 “Suspension rates of African American students and of those from low-income families also went down in PERC schools, shrinking the disparities in suspension rates between African American and white students andbetween low- and higher-income students.”

Don't Stop Now: California leads the nation in using public higher education to address mass incarceration. Will we continue? Corrections to College California, March, 2018 “This publication highlights California's successful efforts to build public higher education access for thousands of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students, both in custody and on college campuses throughout the state.”
Summary of School Safety Statistics National Institute of Justice, July, 2017 “On the national level, crime at K-12 schools in the U.S., including violent crime, decreased from 1992 to 2013. Though violent crime against students increased from 2010 to 2013, the violent crime rate in 2013 was still lower than in 1992.”
Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls' Childhood Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, June, 2017 (Adults view black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than their white peers, especially in the age range of 5-14)
Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2016 National Center for Education Statistics, May, 2017 (This annual report, a joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the�|National Center for Education Statistics, presents data on crime and safety at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, and principals.)
Sentencing Outcomes in U.S. District Courts: Can Offenders' Educational Attainment Guard Against Prevalent Criminal Stereotypes? Travis W. Franklin, Sam Houston State University, February, 2017 “[C]ourt actors may be less concerned (or not at all concerned) with factors typically linked to perceptions of dangerousness (e.g., race, ethnicity, age, sex, detention status) when dealing with offenders of higher educational status.”
Expanding Access to Postsecondary Education in Prison: Fact Sheet for Corrections Leaders Vera Institute of Justice, January, 2017 “Incarcerated people who participate in prison education programs are 43 percent less likely to recidivate than those who do not.”
Mass incarceration and children's outcomes: Criminal Justice Policy is Education Policy Economic Policy Institute, December, 2016 “It is more common for children of incarcerated parents to drop out of school than it is for children of nonincarcerated parents, controlling for race, IQ, home quality, poverty status, and mother’s education.”
Highlights from the U.S. PIAAC Survey of Incarcerated Adults: Their Skills, Work Experience, Education, and Training National Center for Education Statistics, November, 2016 “Around two-thirds of the survey’s respondents reported that they were working prior to their incarceration: about half of them were employed full-time, with another 16 percent working part-time.”
Making the Grade: Developing Quality Postsecondary Education Programs in Prison Vera Institute of Justice, July, 2016 “[T]his report compiles lessons from the field, offering implementation guidance to programs seeking to develop, expand, or enhance postsecondary educational programming in corrections settings.”
Uncovering Mass Incarceration's Literacy Disparity Prison Policy Initiative, April, 2016 “People in prison are 13 to 24 percent more represented in the lowest levels of literacy than people in the free world.”
Suspended Childhood: An Analysis of Exclusionary Discipline of Texas' Pre-K and Elementary School Students Texas Appleseed, November, 2015 “In the 2013-2014 school year, Texas schools issued 88,310 out-of-school suspensions to young children.”
Future Now: A Process and Intermediate Outcomes Evaluation of the NYC GED Preparatory Program Vera Institute of Justice, November, 2015 “Future Now is a GED preparatory program housed at Bronx Community College offering programs tailored to meet each student’s personal and educational needs, prepare them for college, and support students through their first year of enrollment.”
Locked Out: Improving Educational and Vocational Outcomes for Incarcerated Youth Council of State Governments Justice Center, November, 2015 “At least one in three incarcerated youth is identified as needing or already receiving special education services--a rate nearly four times higher than youth attending school in the community.”
Disproportionate Impact of K-12 School Suspension and Expulsion on Black Students in Southern States University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, August, 2015 “In 132 Southern school districts, Blacks were disproportionately suspended at rates five times or higher than their representation in the student population.”
Turning on the TAP: How Returning Access to Tuition Assistance for Incarcerated People Improves the Health of New Yorkers Human Impact Partners, May, 2015 “Expanding access to college education for people in New York prisons would benefit the overall health and well-being of the communities that formerly incarcerated people return to, as well as the individuals who receive the education, and their families.”
Boxed Out: Criminal History Screening and College Application Attrition Center for Community Alternatives, March, 2015 “This means almost two out of every three applicants who check "yes" to the felony conviction question do not complete the application process and are never considered for admission.”
The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Black and White ACLU of Rhode Island, February, 2015 “During the 2011-2012 school year, for example, black students comprised over 16% of suspensions statewide - more than twice their student population.”
Public Research Universities: Changes in State Funding American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2015 “In general, state spending on corrections has grown much faster than education spending over the last three decades. In eleven states, corrections has now surpassed higher education as a percentage of funding.”
School Discipline and Restorative Justice (Case Story) Human Impact Partners, September, 2014 “If properly implemented, restorative justice could reduce suspensions in the six schools by 20% to 40%. Restorative justice would also lower dropout rates, which in turn would lead to fewer students who end up poor or in prison.”
Indicators Of School Crime And Safety, 2013 Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2014 “During the 2009–10 school year, 85% of public schools recorded that one or more crime incidents had taken place at school, amounting to an estimated 1.9 million crimes.”
Unintended Consequences: Effects of Paternal Incarceration on Child School Readiness and Later Special Education Placement Anna R. Haskins, April, 2014 “Mass incarceration facilitates the intergenerational transmission of male behavioral disadvantage, and because of the higher exposure of black children to incarceration, it also plays a role in explaining the persistently low achievement of black boys.”
How Effective is Correctional Education, and Where Do We Go from Here? The Results of a Comprehensive Evaluation Rand Corporation, February, 2014 “...correctional education for incarcerated adults reduces the risk of post-release reincarceration (by 13 percentage points) and does so cost-effectively (a savings of five dollars on reincarceration costs for every dollar spent on correctional education)”
Just Learning The Imperative to Transform Juvenile Justice Systems Into Effective Educational Systems Southern Education Foundation, 2014 “...most students come in and out of the juvenile justice systems with little or no real regard for their education.”
From Fingerpaint to Fingerprints: The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Utah The University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, 2014 “There were 1,230 disciplinary actions in 2011-12, the most recent school year for which data is available.”
Disparities in Discipline: A Look at School Disciplinary Actions for Utah's American Indian Students The University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, 2014 (In Utah, American Indian students are almost four times (3.8) more likely to receive a school disciplinary action compared to their white counterparts.)
The Degree of Disadvantage: Incarceration and Inequality in Education Stephanie Ewert, Bryan L. Sykes, and Becky Pettit, November, 2013 “Nearly three in ten white male dropouts in the United States can expect to serve time in a state or federal correctional facility in their lifetime, and nearly 60 percent of black male dropouts are imprisoned at some point in their lives...”
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education A Meta-Analysis of Programs That Provide Education to Incarcerated Adults RAND Corporation, August, 2013 “On average, inmates who participated in correctional education programs had 43% lower odds of recidivating than inmates who did not, and the odds of obtaining employment postrelease was 13% higher than those who had not participated.”
Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2012 Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 2013 “In 2011, about 28 percent of 12- to 18-year-old students reported being bullied at school during the school year.”
Keeping Kids In School and Out of Court: Report and Recommendations New York City School-Justice Partnership Task Force, May, 2013 “During the School Year 2012 there were 882 arrests and 1,666 summonses issued, with over-representation of students of color. Suspension and school arrest patterns are less a function of student misbehavior than a function of the adult response.”
Handcuffs on Success The Extreme School Discipline Crisis in Mississippi Public Schools Advancement Project, American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP, Mississippi Coalition for the Prevention of Schoolhouse to Jailhouse, January, 2013 “Extreme and destructive approaches to school discipline not only have directly harmed students and families, but also have caused teachers, law enforcement officials, and community members to have their lives and careers made more difficult.”
Does Federal Financial Aid Affect College Enrollment? Evidence from Drug Offenders and the Higher Education Act of 1998 Cornell University, January, 2013 “The ban on Federal financial aid increased the amount of time between high school graduation and college enrollment, affected students were less likely to ever enroll in college, and the law did not deter young people from committing drug felonies.”
Are Black Kids Worse? Myths and Facts about Racial Differences in Behavior Equity Project at Indiana University, 2013 “Such studies have provided little to no evidence that African American students in the same school or district are engaging in more seriously disruptive behavior that could warrant higher rates of exclusion or punishment.”
A Performance Audit of Inmate High School Education Utah Legislative Auditor General, August, 2012 “In fiscal year 2011, over 5,200 inmates were enrolled in adult education, which is about 22 percent of Utah's entire adult education program.”
Arrested Future The Criminalization of School Discipline in Massachusetts' Three Largest School Districts ACLU of Massachusetts, May, 2012 “While there are undoubtedly many reasons why there are more public order arrests in Springfield than in Boston or Worcester, it appears that the manner in which Springfield deploys police officers in its public schools is a contributing factor.”
Juvenile Justice Alternative Edu. Programs Performance Assessment Report School Year 2010-2011 Texas Juvenile Justice Department, May, 2012 “The average passing rate for reading/ELA was 68.8% compared to 38.2% for math. The overall passing rates are up from 67.6% in reading/ELA and 34.5% for math in school year 2008-2009.”
The Post-Release Employment and Recidivism Among Different Types of Offenders With A Different Level of Education: A 5-Year Follow-Up Study in Indiana Indiana Department of Corrections and Ball State University, April, 2012 “Offenders who had a lower level of education not only had a higher recidivism rate, but also such uneducated/under-educated offenders were likely to be re-incarcerated earlier than those offenders who had a higher level of education.”
Pay Now or Pay Much More Later Law Enforcement Leaders support high-quality early education to cut crime and save money in California Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California, April, 2012 “Research shows that high-quality preschool programs can significantly reduce felony arrests and incarceration rates and return $10 or more in savings for every dollar invested, with nearly 1/2 of the savings coming from lower prison & crime-related costs.”
Indicators Of School Crime And Safety, 2011 Bureau of Justice Statistics, February, 2012 “In 2009–10, about 74 percent of public schools recorded one or more violent incidents of crime, 16 percent recorded one or more serious violent incidents, and 44 percent recorded one or more thefts.”
The Education of DC How Washington D.C.'s investments in education can help increase public safety Justice Policy Institute, February, 2012 “This national trend is seen in D.C. as the funding for the justice system continues to increase at the expense of public education.”
Education Under Arrest: The Case Against Police in Schools Justice Policy Institute, November, 2011 “[School resource officers] and law enforcement in schools are not needed to keep kids safe, especially when youth pay the price of becoming involved in the juvenile justice system and suffer a lifetime of negative effects as a result.”
Breaking Schools' Rules: A Statewide Study of How School Discipline Relates to Students' Success and Juvenile Justice Involvement The Council of State Governments Justice Center, July, 2011 “Nearly six in ten public school students studied were suspended or expelled at least once between their seventh- and twelfth-grade school years.”
Unlocking Potential: Results of a National Survey of Postsecondary Education in State Prisons Institute for Higher Education Policy, May, 2011 “Approximately 71,000 persons (roughly 6 percent of the total incarcerated population in responding states) are enrolled in vocational or academic postsecondary education programs in prisons for the 2009-10 academic year.”
Misplaced Priorities Over Incarcerate, Under Educate NAACP, April, 2011 “During the last two decades, as the criminal justice system came to assume a larger proportion of state discretionary dollars, state spending on prisons grew at six times the rate of state spending on higher education.”
Law Enforcement Officers in Wake County Schools: The Human, Educational, and Financial Costs Advocates for Children's Services, Legal Aid of North Carolina, February, 2011 (This report examines the effects of the proliferation of police officers in Wake County, NC (Raleigh area) public schools.)
The Use of Criminal History Records in College Admissions Reconsidered Center for Community Alternatives, November, 2010 “A majority (66%) of the responding colleges collect criminal justice information, although not all of them consider it in their admissions process. Private schools and four-year schools are more likely to collect and use such information.”
The Consequences of Dropping Out of High School Joblessness and Jailing for High School Dropouts and the High Cost for Taxpayers Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, October, 2009 “Nearly 1 of every 10 young male high school dropouts was institutionalized on a given day in 2006-2007 versus fewer than 1 of 33 high school graduates.”
Reclaiming Michigan's Throwaway Kids: Students Trapped in the School-to-Prison Pipeline Michigan ACLU, 2009 “When school administrators refer some student discipline matters to law enforcement agencies, there is a consequent criminalization of many students whose offenses would otherwise have been dealt with entirely by school officials.”
Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2007 Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2007 “In 2005, 10 percent of male students in grades 9–12 reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the past year, compared to 6 percent of female students.”
Education and Public Safety Policy Brief Justice Policy Institute, August, 2007 “Graduation rates were associated with positive public safety outcomes. Researchers have found that a 5 percent increase in male high school graduation rates would produce an annual savings of almost $5 billion in crime-related expenses.”
Literacy Behind Bars Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey U.S. Department of Education, May, 2007 “In every age group examined (16-24, 25-39, and 40 or older), incarcerated adults had lower average prose, document, and quantitative literacy than adults in the same age group living in households.”
Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics, December, 2006 “The percentage of public schools experiencing one or more violent incidents increased between the 1999-2000 and 2003-04 school years, from 71 to 81 percent.”
Saving Futures, Saving Dollars The Impact of Education on Crime Reduction and Earnings Alliance for Excellent Education, September, 2006 “[A]bout 75 percent of America's state prison inmates,almost 59 percent of federal inmates, and 69 percent of jail inmates did not complete high school.”
Hidden Challenges: Juvenile Justice and Education Issues Affecting Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Youth in Richmond, California National Council on Crime and Delinquency, March, 2006 “The intent of [this] report is to provide a detailed assessment of the status of Southeast Asian youth in Richmond. To this end, the report contains data from the areas of juvenile justice and education, with relevant demographic data provided for context”
A Look At The Impact Schools Drum Major Institute, June, 2005 “...the Impact Schools initiative has brought increased police and security presence into 22 New York City middle and high schools...”(The report shows that low income, over-crowding and race are as characteristic of the schools as their crime-rates.)
Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track Advancement Project, March, 2005 “Examination of the emergence of zero tolerance school discipline policies and how these policies have pushed students away from an academic track to a future in the juvenile justice system.”
Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2004 Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2004
Schools and Prisons: Fifty Years After Brown v. Board of Education Sentencing Project, April, 2004
Current Issues in Correctional Education: A Compilation and Discussion Council of Advancement of Adult Literacy, February, 2004
Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2003 Bureau of Justice Statistics, October, 2003
The Effect of Earning a GED on Recidivism Rates State of New York Department of Correctional Services, September, 2003 “[T]hose inmates who earned a GED while incarcerated returned to custody within three years at a significantly lower rate than offender who did not earn a GED while incarcerated.”
Education and Incarceration Justice Policy Institute, August, 2003
Correctional Boot Camps: Lessons from a Decade of Research National Institute of Justice, June, 2003
Derailed: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track Advancement Project, May, 2003 “how zero-tolerance policies are derailing students from an academic track in schools to a future in the juvenile justice system”(it's a huge (13MB) PDF file)
Borrowing Against the Future: The Impact of Prison Expansion on Arizona Families, Schools and Communities Grassroots Leadership and Arizona Advocacy Network, April, 2003
Education and Correctional Populations Bureau of Justice Statistics, January, 2003 “compares educational attainment of correctional populations to the general population”
Spending More on Prisons than Higher Education Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, 2003 (has official and inflation adjusted comparison from FY 1968 to 2004)
Education as Crime Prevention: The Case for Reinstating Pell Grant Eligibility for the Incarcerated Bard Prison Initiative, 2003 “This report illustrates the overwhelming consensus among public officials that postsecondary education is the most successful and cost-effective method of preventing crime.”
Education not Incarceration Education Not Incarceration, 2003 (California Coalition of Teachers, Students, Parents and Citizens)
Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2002 Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2002
Cellblocks or Classrooms?: The Funding of Higher Education and Corrections and Its Impact on African American Men Justice Policy Institute, August, 2002 “State spending on prisons grows at 6 times the rate of higher education”
¿Dónde Está la Justicia? Un llamado a la acción a favor de los jóvenes latinos en el sistema de justicia de los EE.UU. (Spanish) Building Blocks for Youth, July, 2002
Education vs. Incarceration: A Mississippi case study Grassroots Leadership, May, 2002
State Correctional Education Programs: State Policy Update National Institute for Literacy, March, 2002
Three State Recidivism Study Correctional Education Association, September, 2001 (Methodologically strong study on the effect of prison education programs on reducing recidivism)
Changing Minds The Impact of College in a Maximum Security Prison Graduate Center of CUNY & Women in Prison at Bedford Hills CF, NY, September, 2001
Schools and Suspensions Self-Reported Crime and the Growing Use of Suspensions Justice Policy Institute, September, 2001 “Students Report School Crime at Same Level as 1970s, But Use of Suspension Doubles”
Follow-Up Study of Offenders Who Earn GEDs While Incarcerated in DOCS State of New York Department of Correctional Services, May, 2001 (Helping a prisoner get his GED while incarcerated cuts recidivism)
Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2000: Crime in the Nation's schools declined in the 1990's Bureau of Justice Statistics, October, 2000
Impact of Educational Achievement of Inmates in the Windham School District on Post-Release Employment Criminal Justice Policy Council (Texas), June, 2000 (Windham District is the Texas prison system)
Opportunities Suspended: The Devastating Consequences of Zero Tolerance and School Discipline Policies Advancement Project & Harvard Civil Rights Project, June, 2000 “The report illustrates that Zero Tolerance is unfair, is contrary to the developmental needs of children, denies children educational opportunities, and often results in the criminalization of children.”
Analysis of Recidivism Rates of Education Program Participants in Virginia Kim A. Hull, et. al., June, 2000
Educational Achievement of Inmates in the Windham School District Criminal Justice Policy Council (Texas), April, 2000 (Windham District is the Texas prison system)
School House Hype: Two Years Later Justice Policy Institute, April, 2000
New York State of Mind?: Higher Education vs. Prison Funding in the Empire State, 1988-1998 Justice Policy Institute, December, 1998
Class Dismissed: Higher Education vs. Corrections During the Wilson Years Justice Policy Institute, September, 1998 (California)
School House Hype: The School Shootings, and the Real Risks Kids Face in America Justice Policy Institute, July, 1998
U.S. Prison Spending Increases Faster than College Funding 1977-1995 ABC News, July, 1998 (Interactive state atlas)
Is Maryland's System of Higher Education Suffering Because of Prison Expenditures? Justice Policy Institute, March, 1998
Education as Crime Prevention: Providing education to prisoners Center for Crime, Communities and Culture, September, 1997
Trading Classrooms for Cellblocks: Destructive Policies Eroding DC Communities Justice Policy Institute, March, 1997
From Classrooms to Cellblocks: A National Perspective Justice Policy Institute, February, 1997
Campus Law Enforcement Agencies, 1995 Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 1996 (600 agencies at 4-year schools with 2,500+ students)
From Classrooms to Cell-blocks: How Prison Building Affects Higher Education and African American Enrollment in CA Justice Policy Institute, October, 1996 (California)
Literacy Behind Prison Walls: Profiles of the Prison Population from the National Adult Literacy Survey National Center for Education Statistics, October, 1994 (the literacy levels of prisoners, by population and offense groups, with comparisons to demographically similar adults not in prison)
Analysis of Return Rates of the Inmate College Program Participants State of New York Department of Correctional Services, August, 1991 (Allowing a prisoner to go to college cuts recidivism.)

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Challenges and Strategies for Research in Prisons

Zoltán l. apa.

1 School of Nursing, Columbia University, New York, New York

Dhritiman V. Mukherejee

2 Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York

4 Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York

Carolyn T. A. Herzig

Carl koenigsmann.

3 New York State Department of Corrections, Albany, New York

Franklin D. Lowy

Elaine l. larson.

In this article, we discuss some of the challenges encountered while conducting research in two maximum security prisons and approaches we found helpful to facilitate the research process through the development of collaborative relationships, the establishment of prison contacts, and the implementation of rigorous research methods. As a result of our experiences, we have been successful at maintaining a high rate of inmate participation (>80%) and a well-functioning multidisciplinary team. The approaches described may be useful to other investigators planning to conduct research in a challenging setting such as prisons.

Over 9.8 million people are incarcerated throughout the world, with the United States having the highest incarceration rate at 756 per 100,000 of the national population ( Walmsley, 2009 ). Although a decline in the growth rate of the overall prison population has been seen in recent years, the number of adults under correctional supervision increased about fourfold between 1980 and 2009, from 1,840,400 to 7,225,800 ( Walmsley, 2009 ). Inmates are a vulnerable population at high risk for violence, substance abuse, mental illness, and infectious diseases. As a result, correctional facilities are an important site for public health research. There is a growing body of literature regarding prison inmates, and a few publications have provided guidance regarding the challenges and strategies for public health research conducted within these facilities ( Byrne, 2005 ; Fox, Zambrana & Lane, 2011 ; Innes & Everett, 2008 ; Patenaude, 2004 ; Quina et al., 2007 ; Wakai, Shelton, Trestman & Kesten, 2009 ). This article adds to the existing literature by addressing research challenges and approaches using our study (Risk Factors for Spread of Staphylococcus aureus in Prisons, 5R01AI82536) in two New York State maximum security prisons as a framework. Aims of this article are to propose methods to (a) develop a collaborative research relationship between an academic institution and a department of corrections, (b) establish prison contacts, and (c) maintain rigorous research methods in the context of sustaining security and confidentiality ( Table 1 ). Although the collaborative and methodological procedures described below were tailored to our research goals, they can serve as a general guideline for investigators seeking to conduct research within the maximum security prison environment.

Essential Components and Approaches for Conducting Research with a Department of Corrections

Develop a Collaborative Research Relationship

Know the system.

By nature of its mission, The Department of Corrections must maintain a controlled, secure setting ( Wakai et al., 2009 ). As part of the National Institute of Justice’s appraisal action aimed at developing more effective decision tools, however, efforts are being made to develop cooperative relationships with research institutions ( Welsh & Zajac, 2004 ). Hence, correctional facilities administrators have become more receptive to collaborations with universities and other research-based organizations in recent years ( Welsh & Zajac, 2004 ). To facilitate successful research within correctional facilities, researchers need to acquire a basic knowledge of the administrative system within the Department of Corrections, and the various stakeholders and decision makers, to identify appropriate research partners and to get a realistic sense of what types of research methods and approaches are possible and acceptable in the context of a setting in which safety and security are primary ( Fox et al., 2011 ; Greifinger, 2007 ; Vanderhoff, Jeglic & Donovick, 2011 ; Welsh & Zajac, 2004 ).

The involvement of key correctional officials, such as the Chief Medical Officer and the correctional facility Superintendent and Facility Health Services Director, is crucial for conducting public health research. As the Department of Corrections is a top down/hierarchical institution, all approvals must be granted first by the head of the appropriate departments. To properly set the stage for successful research, it is extremely important to identify a senior prison administrator as co-investigator. The close collaboration and support of the Chief Medical Officer of the New York State Department of Corrections as a collaborator on our study was essential to its successful implementation.

Obtain appropriate permissions

This study’s initial challenge was to obtain the necessary approvals from both the Columbia University Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Central Office of the NYS Department of Corrections. For studies involving inmates, IRBs are required to have a prisoner advocate who reviews the protocol. In addition, certification from the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) Division of Policy and Assurance is necessary ( http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/policy/populations/prisoncertlet.html ). Because protocols must be reviewed and approved by both the Department of Corrections and the IRB, there may be considerable negotiations to request changes and clarifications. It may be difficult to determine whether it is more efficient to submit for approval simultaneously or serially as IRB approval and approval from the Department of Corrections are generally contingent upon each other. The appropriate staff at the Department of Corrections can be helpful in providing guidance throughout the review process, but researchers should not underestimate the amount of time required to review protocols that involve vulnerable populations such as prisoners ( Fox et al., 2011 ).

Emphasize mutual goals

Even with approval from top administrators, however, difficulties in the day-to-day operational aspects of the project may be encountered at lower administrative levels and among staff in direct contact with inmates. Hence, other correctional staff must also be well informed and involved in ongoing planning and discussions ( Appelbaum, 2008 ; Greifinger, 2007 ). To facilitate the development of mutually agreed-upon goals, meetings to discuss research interests and aims with facility superintendents, for feedback and modifications, are essential. Clarifying benefits of the research with the superintendents can deepen their involvement as stakeholders throughout the project ( Trulsona, Marquartb & Mullingsb, 2004 ). Properly aligned negotiations best succeed at the intersection of common interests.

We used a variety of mechanisms to enhance mutual goals. For example, we formed an Advisory Council, which included prison leaders who met on a regular basis. In addition, these prisons also had Inmate Liaison Committees (ILCs) with whom we meet to keep inmates updated and to obtain their feedback. Furthermore, we identified a “point person” within each prison to facilitate communication. Depending on the nature of the study, the position of this person may vary; in our case, the “point person” was a member of the health care staff who advised us as we navigated the system. We also met with correctional officers (COs) to describe the study and respond to any concerns, published an article in the state prison newsletter, and planned co-authorship opportunities with prison staff. Early in the project, at the request from one of the prison superintendents, we produced a video describing the study to inmates and correctional staff in which inmates were offered the opportunity to volunteer as “actors” in the video.

Establish the Prison Contacts

Prisons are unique, restricted, and, at times, unpredictable environments that operate as secure settings where each group has a well-defined, discrete role. To successfully carry out our prison research, we built collegial relationships within the prison system to establish a positive rapport with four distinct groups of personnel: administrative staff, health care staff, security staff, and inmates.

Administrative staff

Once appropriate approvals and clearances are obtained, a researcher’s interactions with the administrative staff are likely to be minimal. However, the researcher must maintain a positive relationship by keeping administrators well informed of the status of the project. Administrators need to hear directly from the researcher of progress, as well as any problems encountered, so that they are fully involved and understand any untoward or unexpected events that occur.

Health care staff

Health care staff, including physicians, nurses, and physician assistants, provide needed health care services for the inmate population. Studies that investigate different elements of inmates’ health require that researchers establish professional relationships with these key medical providers, who can help to facilitate the study.

Security staff

The prison security staff comprised largely COs whose role is to ensure security among the prison population and to help coordinate inmate activities. Thus, researchers will frequently interact with COs. In terms of security logistics, COs are empowered to delay or suspend inmates’ activities. Much depends on level of security-minimum, medium, and maximum. All visitors to the prison, including researchers, must be screened to enter. The steps in this process include having an appointment (i.e., being expected), carrying proper identification, and electronic or manual scanning. Depending on the prison security level, approved visitors might be stamped before entering the facility. For additional security in some prisons, visitors may be required to carry personal alarm pagers within the prison grounds. Electronic devices, such as computers and cell phones, are not allowed within the maximum security prisons; thus, all data collection must be in paper form in such security level prisons.

The research team is usually escorted by a CO to the data collection site(s). Developing a positive relationship with COs is important not only to ensure that research steps are completed effectively but also for the researchers’ safety. In addition, a positive relationship can help reduce concerns or suspicions that COs may have about the nature of the research being conducted and whether they will be expected to contribute or participate in any way. Responding to issues raised by COs and working with them to allay any concerns will prevent delays and greatly facilitate navigating the prison system. COs may be reluctant to express concerns, so it is essential that the research team members are sensitive and attuned to potential issues that may arise. During the course of our study, we found that efficient movement within the prison was greatly influenced by the security personnel; thus, being courteous and respectful to COs encouraged them to help us surmount encountered obstacles. This included making sure that inmates were present for interviews and obtaining as well as equipping the interview rooms.

The inmates are the largest group in prison settings. In our study, meeting with the ILCs to discuss our study aims and solicit their suggestions for ways to approach recruitment and data collection was the most effective means to communicate with the inmates. Through working with such representative bodies, relationships can be developed based on openness and mutual respect to maximize understanding and support for the study.

Maintain Rigorous Research Methods

Accommodate variations in prison cultures.

Although the overall goals of prisons may be similar, each prison has established its own culture and system. We recruited inmates from a women’s and a men’s maximum security prison in NYS, and the major challenge was learning their respective systems and finding the best ways to accommodate and plan for variations in access to inmates and data sources. For example, like most correctional facilities, both sites operated around a scheduled inmate routine. In one facility, the research team was allowed to interact with inmates only in the medical unit and only during their free time. In the other facility, we were allowed to directly recruit inmates from different sites during their assigned programs. Similarly, we were allowed to walk unescorted within one facility but were escorted by bus within the other facility, which required considerably more time. Such differences require careful planning and time management to account for mandated variations in prison systems and their individual requirements.

There were logistical advantages and disadvantages within each system. Although having to wait for a bus at one site prolonged our time, this process allowed the researchers to approach inmates directly and talk with them about the study. In contrast, the other facility’s system called out inmates to the medical unit which limited the number of interviews/participants due to issues such as inmates not receiving the call, deciding not to show up, or simply refusing to participate because they may not have been accurately informed about the study. Emphasizing the importance and overall benefit of this research to COs who delegated the calls minimized these issues.

In the beginning of our recruitment process at both facilities, we learned that explaining the study to a group of inmates, instead of individually, could have adverse effects. If a single inmate made a negative comment about the study, it was then amplified by the group so that other inmates were less likely to express interest in participating. In addition, we distributed approximately 50 flyers describing the study to recruit inmates, and only received a single response informing us that an inmate had moved. Subsequently, we found more appropriate ways to invite study participation such as getting support from the ILC to inform inmates of our study and talking to each inmate separately to avoid miscommunication.

Data collection

At the inception and before each phase of our study, we performed extensive pilot testing to assure that data collection methods were feasible, minimally disruptive, and acceptable to staff and inmates. We vetted the questionnaire with inmates at the outset and throughout the study. In addition, we have conducted meetings, formal presentations, and discussions with prison personnel and inmates to obtain feedback on a regular basis throughout the project. These activities have greatly facilitated the smooth functioning of the project.

A wide variety of data sources are available, each with advantages and disadvantages. Thus, researchers have increasingly combined a mix of data sources to achieve their research goals ( Greifinger, 2007 ). We reviewed medical files and computerized records, collected nares/oropharynx swab samples for microbiologic examination, and conducted interviews with inmates. Any study that uses self-reported information must address the possibility of under-reporting or over-reporting due to issues such as inaccurate or untruthful responses or misinterpretation of the questions ( Fox et al., 2011 ; Harrison, 1997 ; Singer, 1978 ; Stephenson et al., 2006 ). For example, inmates may be reluctant to respond accurately to questions related to personal information such as drug use or involvement in physical fights for fear of being reported to prison authorities. Hence, whenever possible we compared data available from medical records with information obtained from inmate interviews. In general, agreement between information provided by the inmates and information abstracted from records was high for information available from both sources, but information from records was sometimes unavailable or difficult to locate. In addition, much of the data needed for our study was only available by self-report. Overall, the inmates appeared very open and willing to provide information. In fact, we found a number of duplicate interviews from inmates who enrolled more than once, making it possible to assess whether their responses were similar at different time points. In other instances, inmates may have no interest in participating or may refuse certain procedures. In our study, for example, some inmates expressed concerns that the nasal and oropharyngeal samples being obtained were actually contaminating them.

Maintain inmate’s privacy

It is vital to carefully consider privacy and inmates’ rights, as they may feel coerced to participate or fear that their information will be shared with others. To alleviate such concerns, we worked to establish a positive rapport with the inmate population to earn their trust and respect. We requested that the interviews be conducted in private, without the presence of COs or other inmates, to reassure them that our research team was not affiliated with the correctional system and that no individual information from the research study would be reported to the Department of Corrections or a third party ( Fox et al., 2011 ; Noaks, Wincup & ebrary, 2004 ; O’Brien & Bates, 2003 ; Patenaude, 2004 ; Quina et al., 2007 ). To address these concerns, we provided clear and accurate information and obtained a Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institutes of Health ( http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/coc/ ) to help protect inmate privacy. Using these strategies, we were able to attain a recruitment rate of 90.6% in the male and 81.6% in the female maximum security prisons, a rate higher than has been previously reported ( Fox et al., 2011 ; Moser et al., 2004 ; Peterson, Braiker, Polich & Rand Corporation, 1981 ; Struckman-Johnson, Struckman-Johnson, Rucker, Bumby & Donaldson, 1996 ).

The purpose of this article was to describe some of the challenges and solutions derived from the development and implementation of our research study in two maximum security prisons. Although not all prisons have the same issues and policies, many of the challenges we faced are likely to resonate with others. Researchers must not underestimate the amount of time and preparation required for approval from the IRB and Department of Corrections as well as access into the correctional facilities. Once granted access, it is crucial for researchers to establish and maintain a positive relationship with the COs and inmates, to understand rules and security issues to navigate swiftly through the prison system for data collection, and to consider all limitations and obstacles throughout the process. Such strategies have proven successful in establishing and maintaining a high rate of study participation and high-quality data collection in this challenging research setting.

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The RAND research is designed to provide the best available evidence to help inform federal policy, following the Second Chance Act of 2007. The study's findings include: Inmates who participated in correctional education programs had "43% lower odds of recidivating than inmates who did not.". This represents a reduction of 13 percentage ...
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4. Literature review. Internationally, correctional education is delivered to incarcerated individuals as a rehabilitation programme. A majority of countries understand the role of correctional education in offender rehabilitation process and on reducing recidivism rates (Pike & Farley, Citation 2018).Therefore, in the context of this paper, the word transform originates from the fact that ...
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Introduction. The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Programme is an extraordinary education programme. Footnote 1 For many instructors, like ourselves, it has transformed the way we teach and the way we think about education, its purpose and potential. Inside-Out was borne out of the racialised injustices of the US criminal justice system, founded by Criminologist Lori Pompa and designed with ...
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Supporting Success: The Higher Education in Prison Key Performance Indicator Framework Institute for Higher Education Policy, September, 2020 "Better understanding of student outcomes, academic quality, civic engagement, and soft skill development associated with higher education in prison will help both practitioners and policymakers.".
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The contents of the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments Web site were assembled under contracts from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools to the American Institutes for Research (AIR), Contract Number 91990021A0020. This Web site is operated and maintained by AIR.
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Engage with our interactive working paper, learn how a research infrastructure could advance the research on higher education, and share your feedback through prompts and polls. Database Explore our database of empirical studies (1965-present) on the impacts of higher education in US correctional facilities and help us identify additional works.
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