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Decreases to educational programs within prisons are impeding prisoners' employment and training options, ultimately posing a risk to community safety, as stated by a recent report from a prison watchdog organization.

Cycle of Repeat Crimes Connected to Lack of Education

Repeat criminals often cause chaos in their neighborhoods due to the failure of prisons to supply sufficient education and work opportunities that could help break the pattern of criminal behavior, the report noted.

I hold serious worries about the impact of real-terms education budget reductions on currently insufficient provision and about the lack of real desire and drive for improvement that this represents.”

Budget Cuts Threaten Rehabilitation Efforts

In spite of promises to improve availability to learning, spending on frontline learning programs in correctional institutions is being reduced by up to 50%, according to recent disclosures.

While the total training budget has stayed the same, the expense of course agreements has increased significantly, according to prison governors.

• Just 31% of ex- prisoners are working half a year after leaving prison
• Ninety-four of one hundred four closed prisons were rated “poor” or “below standard” for purposeful activity
• Average participation in educational activities was just 67% in inspected institutions

Insufficient Situations Hinder Reform

Crowded conditions, a lack of workshop facilities, machinery failures, and aging infrastructure have worsened the situation, according to the report.

Numerous prisoners wait for weeks to be allocated an training space and are often given whatever is open, instead of instruction applicable to their employment opportunities upon leaving.

Although work went ahead, full-time positions generally occupied inmates for just a limited time per day, with many positions divided into part-time slots to extend meagre provision further.

Official Position and Upcoming Initiatives

The prison service has a responsibility to safeguard the community by making inmates less inclined to commit crimes again when they are released, but too often it is falling short to meet this obligation.

The best administrators understand that prisons, and in the end our society, are more secure if inmates are purposefully occupied, and that education, training and work play a crucial role in encouraging inmates to turn their lives around.

It is understood that meaningful engagement can help to facilitate safe and proper correctional facilities and have a transformative impact on recidivism levels.”

Until officials in the correctional service take the delivery of effective education and training more seriously, it is hard to see how appallingly high recidivism rates can be reduced.

Funding reductions are also expected to impede efforts to introduce a new incentive-based correctional system that would allow prisoners to earn time off their incarceration by finishing employment, training and education programs.