the big idea

prison education.

Higher education benefits both prisoners and society

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of stories in which we asked mem­bers of the UB faculty to think big: If they had unlimited time, money and persuasion techniques, what audacious idea from their fields would they want to implement today?

By ERIN PETERSON

Reprinted from At Buffalo

Published September 9, 2016 This content is archived.

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“I’ve worked with many incarcerated people and I find that those who are taking college classes see their horizon expand beyond the end of their cell block. ”
Teresa Miller, professor of law and vice provost for equity and inclusion

The problem: Mass incarceration

The big idea: Offer robust education opportunities to all inmates.

Teresa A. Miller is vice provost for equity and inclusion, and professor of law

Teresa Miller.

Incarceration in America is at unprec­edented levels. For example, the United States has about 5 percent of the world’s population, but 20 percent of the world’s prisoners. One study by the Texas De­partment of Criminal Justice found that of those who are incarcerated and lack a college education, 60 percent will return to prison at some point after they’re released. Those are discouraging numbers, emblematic of a broken system

But one thing that does seem to make a difference is education. If I could, I would make college courses available to any prisoner with a clean disciplinary record and a high school diploma. In this way, I would create incentives for prisoners to follow the rules and provide an invaluable opportunity to incarcerated men and women on the basis of merit.

I’ve worked with many incarcerated people and I find that those who are taking college classes see their horizon expand beyond the end of their cell block. It gives them a way of experiencing life beyond their present circumstances.

It also gives them an opportunity, once they’re released, to take advantage of work opportunities that may not have been available to them before. Studies have found that this kind of education can reduce recidivism by more than 40 percent.

Better educational opportunities don’t just benefit prisoners; they’re a huge cost savings, too. For example, the organization I work with, the Correctional Association of New York, estimates that every dollar that’s invested in prison education returns two dollars back to taxpayers because they’re not paying for solitary confinement, medical care, prisoner transport and all sorts of other expenses. That’s why this is an idea that would benefit all of us.

READER COMMENTS

Thank you for your work!

 

Denise Krause

Excellent idea! It would be nice to create some courses/modules to fill the existing gaps and some "bridge" courses to accelerate their entry into college. 

 

Raj Rajnarayanan