Reducing Recidivism: The Promise of Post-Secondary Correctional Education

*In 2016, the SOL program pivoted for the year to focus on political engagement in what was then called the “Political Engagement Pilot Project,” or PEPP. This was an alternative version of SOL that laid the groundwork for the development of the PEP program as it currently exists.

Problem Statement

Despite the past success of North Carolina’s Post-Secondary Correctional Education (PSCE) programs, budget cuts and punishment-focused public sentiment have severely diminished educational opportunities for inmates past high school equivalency. As recently as 2008, joint efforts from the NC Department of Corrections and the NC Community College System maintained PSCE programs in 100% of the state’s prisons, servicing over one-third of the state’s inmate population each year. That year, there were 1,623 vocational certificates 1,160 Associate’s degrees conferred. However, the 2010 state budget eliminated $33 million in reoccurring funds to community colleges that had been previously used to cover correctional education costs. Individual programs started offering exclusively Adult Basic Education (GED Certificates) and some vocational training, phasing out higher education programs over the years. This was originally to cut costs, but the practice continued in order to make programs less politically vulnerable. Because the education programs are still run using public funds, offering high school equivalency and skills-based training is less likely to draw widespread opposition from taxpayers.

This continues to leave many capable inmates in the margins. A longitudinal study of state prisoners reports that inmates are 40% more likely to participate in a program if they feel it would increase their future job prospects; inmates understand that they will need gainful employment upon release to sustain themselves and their families, and they recognize these programs as a meaningful step in the right direction. Given that support for using tax dollars to fund PSCE is not likely to be a prevailing opinion in the coming years, there are several reasons that education for inmates is not adequately supported at present.

1. The programs still operating are not visible to the public because evidence of their scope, rigor, and effectiveness is not readily available.

The NC Department of Public Safety has not published an educational services annual report since 2008. In the past, these reports had included listings and outcome evaluations of all programs offered in the state. In 2016, the only sites for which proof of operation can be found are the 6 programs run by UNC’s Friday Center. While is it possible that there are additional PSCE programs, the lack of information available about them makes them as good as gone. Without compelling evidence of their effectiveness, they are vulnerable to further downsizing from the general assembly. A degree or certificate is only useful if it inspires further education upon release or if it leads directly to employment. Institutions of higher learning and local business owners alike are drawn to candidates from trusted sources, so the invisibility of the programs can prevent former inmates from procuring that for which they became educated.

2. Inmates are excluded from many employment and education prospects in Durham County because of the lack of information available to them.

All transitional counseling or advising in the field of correction is referral-based in nature, meaning that inmates have very few options upon release. They are typically not given the opportunity to make an educated choice about what programs or field of work to enter because of the scarcity of options. These tracks are typically manufacturing, transportation, or food services, and while the value of a job should not be diminished, the push from transition services to get them into these jobs reinforces that idea that they are only capable or worthy of a certain type of work. The empowerment that inmates feel upon receiving an education will fall flat if they are still cut off from anything besides service-industry jobs without getting much choice in the matter.

3. Voices and stories of inmates have the potential to add value to the public sphere, but they are not routinely heard.

When these programs pushed out of view, so too are the stories of their participants. Prison narratives have not been present in the public sphere, must less the academic realm. Public opinion on punishment and criminal justice tend to be driven by perceptions of criminals as “bad people” deserving of suffering and isolation. Personal narratives highlight human qualities in the author, and the more people on the outside can interact with, identify with, and learn from the experiences of inmates, the more likely it is that the public will come to support the existence of PSCE programs. At the academic level, institutions stand to gain from the lived experiences of inmates because they can lead to better-informed research and policy.