Education In America's Prison System

America’s prison system is overcrowded and expensive, but prison education can fix a lot of its problems. Education programs are important to inmates and is helpful outside of the prison. The main goals of prison education are to increase the education level of prisoner and improve their chances of success upon release. The prisoners need to be prepared for when they are released. These programs are helping prisoners live again on the outside. Inmates should be able to have education just like other citizens. Education changes mind and teaches people how to think smarter. Education has two types of training, vocational and academic.
When inmates are released, they could be properly rehabilitated with some knowledge to find a job.

Few prison educators have been trained in teaching methods for adult learners. Also, they have been trained in how to recognize and accommodate learning disabilities. In California, San Quentin Prison is one of the largest prisons in the country. This prison offers college-level education to inmates through the Prison University Project which is the largest prison college program in California’s prison system. Many people believe that education should not be free for incarcerated people, although, I totally disagree. Funding for these programs are provided through the official correctional department budgets. Sometimes, the families may even fund.
Education programs in prisons are taken care of by the prison faculty. When inmates get out of jail, without education what can they really do? They are still human beings that need a purpose to their lives to be productive people. Some of the prison population would not even be in prison, if they received proper support in life. Education might even be especially important to those who are serving life sentences. Since they will never physically be free, they can at least free their minds by reading. Those who pursue academic education in jail often face isolation and lack of support.
Inmates have a hard time finding jobs or being qualified for any type of work without education. With their newfound academic achievements, inmates have the basics of new job skills that they can use to further education or on-the- job training. In fact, finding a job is the thing people are most worried about when they are released from prison. A lot of people who are convicted felons didn’t finish high school, so they do not have a high school diploma. In this generation, you must have some type of education to even get a job. Even at lower-paying fast food restaurants require a little education and even doing background checks. Which, I believe is good because how can you be a cashier if you do not know how to count money? That is why education is so important to most prisoners who are about to be released.
If inmates don’t have some type of education to get a job, they could possibly end up doing illegal things. That is not what every inmate does, but a lot of incarcerated people do have hard times getting by when they are not in jail. A lot of correctional centers don’t have education programs and its mainly because the system don’t care. In my opinion the criminal justice system just wants inmates to stay out of jail, they do not care if the inmate has a place to stay or not. They do not care if inmates have a job.

Prison education programs often help reduce the probability of prisoners returning to prison. Prison education can change and literally save the lives of incarcerated people. Employment after release was higher among prisoners who participated in academic programs than those who didn’t. It is important to know that not everyone that participates in an education program will be a success, there will be failures. Newly released inmates are far more likely than other job applicants to be high school dropouts. Highschool diplomas might not be enough for inmates. Inmates chances of finding full-time employment are greatly enhanced if they complete education while they are in prison. The quality of prison education programs is critical to fixing our criminal justice system.

Education has always been one of the strongest predictors for successful reintegration’s.