NCJ Number
139496
Journal
State Government News Volume: 35 Issue: 11 Dated: (November 1992) Pages: 10-11
Date Published
1992
Length
2 pages
Annotation
When John Wood Community College in Quincy, Illinois, prohibited State prisoners from applying for Federal Pell grants this year, the school joined a growing national debate over who should pay for inmates' higher education.
Abstract
The college opposed the idea of giving grants to criminals when plenty of law-abiding students needed the money. To corrections departments in Illinois and other States, however, Pell grants represent a needed source of funding at a time when State budgets for correctional education are increasingly tight. The conflict between educating and rehabilitating State prisoners and competing budget interests have forced a re-examination of prison education. The Correctional Education Association estimates that 70 to 75 percent of prisoners nationwide are high school dropouts and that most inmates perform several grade levels below the last grade they completed in school. Prison systems have responded by offering various traditional programs, including adult basic education, GED (general educational development) classes, volunteer literacy efforts, vocational education, and college classes. Several studies have documented that educational achievement, particularly at the postsecondary level, helps reduce recidivism. Additionally, some experts believe that education programs for inmates need to incorporate self-image, decisionmaking, and other social skills. In Illinois, the annual cost of educating a student is significantly less than the annual cost of incarcerating an adult in a State prison ($4,200 versus $16,200).