Prisons - The Basic Skills Needed In The Modern Society

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."-Benjamin Franklin

The same may be said of society. The graph presents data on four selected characteristics of the general adult population and of the state correctional population. It would appear that we are failing to prepare a large part of our society and it is, in turn, failing us. The lower levels of educational attainment and functional literacy seen in prison populations are two indicators of this failure. Is the justice system in America having to pick up the slack for a failing education system? Should the correctional system focus on rehabilitating offenders or merely punishing them?

Following an era of experimentation in criminal rehabilitation programs, an influential study was published in 1974 entitled What Works? Questions and Answers About Prison Reform. The study debunked the idea that it is possible to rehabilitate prison inmates or, in fact, to reform any criminal at all. It soon became known as "Nothing Works." It was received warmly by a justice system reeling under the strain of sharply rising crime rates. The late 1970s ushered in a new correctional philosophy, one based on getting tough on offenders.

In the late 1980s a new study was published which concluded that "successful rehabilitation of offenders had been accomplished, and continued to be accomplished quite well…

Reductions in recidivism, sometimes as substantial as 80%, had been achieved in a considerable number of well-controlled studies." (Gendreau and Ross) The new report was not picked up with the same alacrity as the first study mentioned, but as the years went by, it began to acquire adherents. As incarceration rates continued to rise and recidivism rates remained high, a new look at rehabilitation seemed in order.

The literacy demands of the modern workplace leave anyone without a functional literacy level at a disadvantage. And a high school degree has become an entry-level requirement for many jobs. Yet only half of prison inmates have a high school degree or equivalent and only one quarter are literate at the 12th grade level.

It seems reasonable to assume that delivering literacy skills to inmates might be one pro-active way to try and reduce recidivism rates. It is also more cost-effective to teach an inmate to read than to receive him back into the system for another extended stay. According to a Federal Bureau of Prisons report, "Results of this analysis provide substantial evidence that prison education program participation reduces the likelihood of recidivating irrespective of post-release employment."

Another type of rehabilitation program that has shown itself to be useful in reducing recidivism rates and thus crime rates is drug treatment. The 1992 data on drug use by state prison inmates showed that 83% of inmates have tried illegal drugs. That is more than twice the rate for the general population. More importantly still, 70% reported having used drugs regularly and 33% claim to have used drugs during the commission of the offense for which they were incarcerated. Addressing drug addiction should be part of any criminal rehabilitation program.

According to an Office of National Drug Control Policy report, drug treatment program results were very positive, reducing both recidivism and post-release drug use. Furthermore, "this resulted in an average savings of three to one: every one dollar spent on treatment saved society three dollars. The savings resulted from reduced crime-related costs, increased earnings, and reduced health care costs that would otherwise be borne by society."

Participation by Soon-to-Be Released Prisoners in Rehabilitation Programs, 1991 and 1997

Why then are these rehabilitation programs not used more vigorously? Far fewer than half of all prison inmates who were within 12 months of their release date report being involved in educational programs, vocational programs or drug treatment programs. And the participation rates have dropped during the 1990s. One simple reason for the failure to use rehabilitation programs more is that, quite simply, they cost. As prison officials try and make already tight budgets cover ever larger numbers of people cuts are made. To this we add the "get tough of crime" philosophy of the 1980s and 1990s and rehabilitation programs have suffered.

More than a prison program is needed to turn a person's life around. But, the opportunity at education, drug treatment and vocational training has shown at least some impact in reducing recidivism rates. We seem to be failing to prepare prisoners for reentering society as productive members. We should, perhaps, not be surprised if so many of these prisoners fail to succeed in the reentry to civilian life.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Literacy Behind Prison Walls: Profiles of the Prison Population From The National Adult Literacy Survey, 1994, available online at http://nces.ed.gov/naal/resources/92results.asp. Adult Literacy and Education in America, August 2001, p. 74. Miller, Jerome G. "The Debate on Rehabilitating Criminals: Is It True that Nothing Works?," Washington Post, March 1989, available online at http://www.ncianet.org/rehab.html. U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Prison Education Program Participation and Recidivism: A Test of the Normalization Hypothesis, May 1995, p. 16. U.S. Office of National Drug Policy, Drug Treatment in the Criminal Justice System, March 2001, available online at http://www.whitehousedrupolicy.gov/publications/factsht/treatment/. Gendreau, Paul and R. Ross. "Revivification of Rehabilitation: Evidence from the 1980s," Justice Quarterly, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, September 1987, Vol. 4. Travis, Jeremoy, Amy L. Solomon and Michelle Waul. From Prison to Home: The dimensions and Consequences of Prisoner Reentry, published by the Urban Institute Justice Policy Center, June 2001, p. 17.