Why It Pays to Invest in Prison Education
Commentary
Nearly 75 percent of individuals incarcerated in state prisons do not have a high school diploma. Only about 15 percent of incarcerated adults have a postsecondary degree, compared to about 45 percent of the general public. Most prisons offer some form of GED certificate or adult basic education courses, but that is simply not sufficient to ensure employability in today’s job market. In addition to broadening a student’s knowledge base, a robust education curriculum can make a person more employable and less likely to reoffend.
Over the last four decades, the United States has seen a 500 percent increase in its incarcerated population, with the number of men and women in our nation’s jails and prisons now topping 2 million, the most of any nation in the world. Yet despite spending over $180 billion a year on incarceration costs, research has demonstrated that this aggressive rise in imprisonment is not necessarily an effective crime deterrent….