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Abstract
The surge of mass incarceration is as prominent as ever, and the question of what to do as people re-enter society is of concern. Education is a viable solution that plays a key role in lower recidivism rates. The purpose of this study is to review existing literature on the transition process from incarceration to post-prison education programs to identify common obstacles and determine how closely the actual programs attend to such obstacles. First, although the volume of research on post-prison to college programs is not large, the available research was analyzed to identify common factors that affect the transition to these programs. Such factors include the criminal history box on program applications; an easy transition from education programs during incarceration to post-incarceration education programs; social support; stigma; provided resources; academic and career advising; the effect of labels; and the choice of privacy about one's past. Next, six programs were evaluated with a focus on the common factors found from the research. The evaluations revealed that elements of each factor affected most of the programs, and that each program could be strengthened. Questions for future research include the economic cost of post-prison education programs compared to the economic cost of re-incarceration, the applicability of these programs in juvenile institutions, and the effectiveness of individualized versus community-based programs.
The Available Research on Factors that Influence the Transition
Mass incarceration is a growing phenomenon that has been observed since the 1980s, when the United States enacted changes in judicial treatment of drug offenses. In 2016, the United States had close to 1.5 million people in prisons, in comparison to nearly 314,000 people incarcerated in 1979.1 Furthermore, racism is reflected within those statistics. Black people are incarcerated at five times the rate of White people.2 This is especially concerning seeing that White people make a much larger portion of the general US population than Black people, yet the smaller group is being unjustly impacted more.
At some point, the majority of people incarcerated will be released and transition back into society. Education can play a key role in lowering recidivism rates among formerly incarcerated people, as well as in increasing public safety.33 To take a look at what is currently offered, an analysis of six existing...