NCJ Number
147050
Date Published
1992
Length
31 pages
Annotation
The effectiveness of adult basic education (ABE) for prison inmates in Canada was evaluated by means of a followup study on 1,736 ABE participants from 1988 who were conditionally released and monitored for an average of 1.1 years.
Abstract
The offenders those who had completed the program (Grade 8 equivalent), those who were released before completion, and those who withdrew from the program. The analysis focused on whether or not program completion was related to readmission. Offender attitudes regarding the benefits of ABE were also studied by means of interviews with a small sample of offenders in two regions. Results were positive in both studies. The poorest outcomes were associated with those who had voluntarily withdrawn from the program. Only 30.1 percent of the completers had readmissions, compared to 35.5 percent of those released before completing and 41.6 percent of the offenders who had withdrawn. Findings also indicated that offenders who possessed high-risk characteristics appeared to benefit from ABE completion more than lower-risk offenders. The positive influence of ABE held for offenders serving longer sentences, those who had served previous federal terms, violent offenders, and younger offenders. Taken together, the results of both studies support the view that gaining skills in literacy and mathematics may be important factors in successful community reintegration. Figures, tables, and 15 references