Education Reductions in Correctional Facilities Put at Risk Public Safety, Oversight Body Reports

Reductions to learning initiatives within correctional institutions are disrupting prisoners' work and skill development options, eventually posing a risk to public security, according to a recent analysis from a correctional oversight organization.

Pattern of Repeat Crimes Connected to Shortage of Education

Habitual offenders often create mayhem in their communities due to the failure of prisons to offer adequate training and employment programs that could help break the cycle of criminal behavior, the findings indicated.

I hold serious worries about the impact of real-terms learning funding reductions on currently inadequate services and about the absence of real appetite and ambition for improvement that this represents.”

Budget Reductions Threaten Rehabilitation Efforts

In spite of commitments to enhance access to education, funding on frontline learning services in prisons is being cut by up to 50%, according to latest disclosures.

While the total education allocation has remained the same, the cost of program agreements has increased significantly, according to prison governors.

• Only 31% of former inmates are working half a year after leaving prison
• Ninety-four of one hundred four inspected facilities were rated “poor” or “not sufficiently good” for meaningful activity
• Average participation in educational programs was just 67% in inspected institutions

Insufficient Conditions Impede Reform

Overcrowding, a shortage of workshop space, equipment breakdowns, and aging infrastructure have worsened the situation, according to the report.

Numerous prisoners wait for weeks to be assigned an activity spot and are often assigned any is available, instead of instruction applicable to their employment opportunities upon release.

Even when work proceeded, full-time jobs generally engaged prisoners for just a limited time per day, with many roles split into partial slots to stretch limited provision further.

Government Position and Upcoming Initiatives

The prison service has a responsibility to protect the community by making inmates less inclined to commit crimes again when they are released, but frequently it is falling short to fulfill this responsibility.

The best governors know that jails, and in the end our society, are safer if prisoners are meaningfully engaged, and that education, training and employment play a vital role in motivating inmates to turn their lives around.

“We know that meaningful engagement can help to enable secure and decent prisons and have a positive effect on reoffending levels.”

Until leaders in the correctional system take the provision of effective training and skill development more seriously, it is difficult to see how appallingly high recidivism levels can be reduced.

Funding cuts are also likely to impede efforts to introduce a new reward-driven correctional system that would allow prisoners to gain time off their sentence by completing work, training and learning programs.