NCJ Number
179811
Journal
Journal of Correctional Education Volume: 50 Issue: 3 Dated: September 1999 Pages: 102-105
Date Published
September 1999
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article briefly overviews historical trends in correctional education and describes a successful program in Delaware that focuses on teaching moral reasoning in addition to academic skills.
Abstract
Correctional education in the 1970's was based on a broad, holistic approach that emphasized changing inmate behavior and that supported prison education. The 1980's decade was characterized by a dramatic departure from the rehabilitative model of the 1970's toward a new philosophy of corrections based on punishment, retribution, and incapacitation. The punitive philosophy continued into the 1990's, and correctional systems attempted to provide secure facilities as courts imposed longer, mandatory sentences. Delaware received funding from the Department of Education in 1993 to implement the Federal Life Skills for State and Local Prisoner Programs. The grant was used to hire five teachers and an administrator to establish a life skills program in Delaware's four major prisons. Eligibility for the program was determined by the length of remaining on an individual's sentence. All inmates who had a 6 to 22 month time period left to serve could volunteer to be selected at random by computer. Those not selected could be assigned to a control group with other nonparticipants. Delaware's program is based on an integrated approach that consists of three major components: applied life skills, academic instruction, and violence reduction. In particular, the violence reduction component includes moral reconation therapy as a treatment method designed to promote positive self-image and identity, help clients learn positive social behaviors and beliefs, and make decisions from a higher level of moral judgment. Although the grant funding for Delaware's life skills program terminated in 1996, the program continues as a promising approach to rehabilitating offenders. 2 references and 1 table