Online & Distance Learning

Research Articles and Briefs conducted on Correctional Higher Education and Reducing Recidivism

• A 1987 study done by the Bureau of Prisons found that the more education an inmate received, the lower the rate of recidivism. Holders of college degrees were the least likely to reenter prison. (The Common Review, 2005)
• According to a study done by the Open Society Institute, fewer than 8 percent of former inmates who attended college classes in prison returned to prison after three years, compared to the almost 30% that did not participate in a college program. (The New York Times, 2001)
• According to the National Institute of Justice Report that prison education is far more effective at reducing recidivism than boot campus, shock incarceration, or vocational training. (Karpowitz and Kenner)
• According to a study done by the Department of Education in 2001, found that for every dollar spent on education, two dollars are saved by avoiding the cost of re-incarceration. (The New York Times, 2001)

• This reference page is a work in progress.  If you have an article you would like to submit to be listed on this page, please email the Pathways Program Director, Patricia Aceves, at paceves@stcloudstate.edu
• Topic: Education and Recividism                                                    
• An Exploratory Study Between the Big Five and Inmate Recidivism (Clower & Bothwell, 2001)
• College Education and Recividism: Educating Criminals is Meritorious (Stevens & Ward, 2997)
• Education as Crime Prevention: The Case for Reinstating Pell Grant Eligibility for the Incarcerated (Karpowitz & Kenner, n.d.)
• Effect of College programming on Recidivism Rates at the Hampden County House of Correction: A 5-Year Study (Burke & Vivia, 2001)
• Impact of Prison Education on Community Reintegration of Inmates: The Texas Case (Fabelo, 2002)
• Postsecondary Correctional Education and Recidivism: A Meta Analysis of Research, 1990-1995 (Chappell, 2004)
• Prison Education Program Participation and Recividism: A Test of the Normalization Hypothesis (Harer, 1987)
• Three-State Recidivism Study (Steurer, Smith & Tracy, 2001)
• Topic: Assessment and Benefits of Correctional Education
• Assessing Correctional Education Programs: A Student's Perspective (Tewsbury & Stengel, 1986)
• Assessing Correctional Rehabilitation: Policy, Practice, and Prospects (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000)
• Barriers to Inmate Education: Factors Affecting the Learning Dynamics of a Prison Education Program (Batchelder & Koski, 2002)
• Benefits of Correctional Education (Hrabowski & Robbi, 2002)
• College Admissions Opportunities and the Public Offender (McCabe & Driscoll, 1971)
• College for the Incarcerated: Funding Alternatives for Maryland Postsecondary Correctional Education (Karpowitz, 2006)
• Comparing Academic Achievement of Inmates with Regional Campus Student Populations in Economics Courses (Brahmasrene, 2001)
• Correctional Education: Characteristics of Academic Programs Serving Incarcerated Adults (Foley & Gao, 2004)
• Correctional Education Programs Serving Incarcerated Juveniles: A Status Report (Foley & Gao, 2002)
• Education as Crime Prevention: Providing Education to Prisoners (Center on Crime, Communities, and Culture, 1997)
• Perceptions of Inmate Students' Ability to Succeed (Edwards-Willey & Chivers, 2005)
• Postsecondary Education in the Prisons (Hamline University, 1997)
• Prison, College, and the Paradox of Punishment (Karpowitz, 2005)
• Prison(er) Education  (Reuss, 1999)
• Should Prisoners Have Access to Collegiate Education:  A Policy Issue (Taylor, 1994)
• Teaching Strategies for the Self-Actualized Correctional Educator (Zaro, 2002)
• What Works in Reducing Criminality (McGuire, 2000)
• Topic: Project Newgate
• Project Newgate to Be Tested at Youth Center (1969)
• Project Newgate: The First Five Years (Clendenden, Ellingston, & Severson, 1979).