Educating Prisoners - An Unnecessary Effort

Educating Prisoners – An Unnecessary Effort

Crime knows no bound, no race, no social status, no gender. In prisons, all criminals are criminals, whether they have committed felony, rape or assault. White-collar crimes are the same as any other crime. Still, most inmates are from the middle class and lower class of our society. However, committing crime, and what kind of crime, is still the choice of the person, whether he has attained a formal education, a higher degree of learning or not.

Still the fact remains that the scope of understanding and the extent of knowledge of white-collar crimes, being more complicated by systems and networks, require some kind of formal education, if not an extensive one. This does not mean that educated people only commit white-collar crimes. It only proves education does not mean absence of criminal behavior.

This is used to point out the argument that educating prisoners makes them smarter criminals. As they learn new ideas, concepts and theories, and how to apply their learning, educated prisoners can become intelligent criminals. Many victim rights groups view educating criminals as ignoring the victims. Security should be the top priority in correctional institutions. Education is a key to productivity, a key to a more prosperous life. Applying education in crime results in the disruption of the society. And educating prisoners does not mean productivity and a more prosperous life for them because they remain behind bars.

Germanotta (110-112) presented phases that a prisoner student passes through. The first phase is the acceptance of prison education as any other jail program like the maintenance of the institution and the recreation program. Inmates may consider prison education as an addition to their recreation program or just a break from the stressful confines of the prison cell. Anyhow, the reasons don’t coincide with the purpose of education, everything is entirely for their own practical and personal reasons not in connection with the function of education. The next phase is the realization of the purpose of education, of learning. This disengages themselves from thoughts of their alienation and they discover social formations and social reality. The prisoner student, thus, begins to have a transformation of point of views and opinions, of himself. He learns and he inspires himself to learn more. ...

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...rtainty and reluctance, the professors teaching in the jail institution keep up prison education. They see correctional education as “vital in reducing the human suffering that breeds crime” (LoPinto). Advocates of prison education also defends this by saying education improves the self-concept of the inmate, thus, producing a productive person whether he is inside bars or not. Mogan justifies that prison education provides the prisoner relevant skills that would help him get back on his feet when he is released from the prison. He argues that educated inmates, when released, are “more apt to earn incomes above the poverty level” (Mogan) and they become more industrious and free of laziness and hatred.

Works Cited

Germanotta, Dante. “Prison Education: A Contextual Analysis.” Davidson 103-121.

Thomas, Jim. “The Ironies of Prison Education.” Davidson 25-48.

Davidson, Howard ed. Schooling in a “Total Institution:” Critical Perspectives on Prison Education. Ed. Howard Davidson. USA: Bergin & Garvey, 1995.

Mogan, Rick. “In Defense of Prison Education.” The Touchstone. Vol.X, No.4 (2000).

LoPinto, Bernard. “Prison Education.” About. 2005. Primedia Co. March 17, 2005