prison education

Welcome to the Prison Education Foundation. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt 509(a)(1) public charity dedicated to providing incarcerated men and women with the opportunity to change their lives through higher education.

Although as a public charity donations may be accepted from any source, we anticipate that our primary funding will come from various 501(c)(3) private foundations which are classified by the IRS as "nonoperating" foundations. Nonoperating private foundations do not operate their own charitable purpose programs, but rather, they provide grants to other 501(c)(3) charitable organizations that do.

Few people realize that today’s prison system provides almost no educational opportunities, other than assistance in obtaining a General Education Development (GED) certificate.

In 1995, with the passage of the Omnibus Crime Bill, Pell Grants and federal student loans were made unavailable to incarcerated persons. Because of this, two situations have occurred. First, there is little access to any type of financial aid to pay for post-secondary tuition. Second, most prison education departments have stopped providing assistance and guidance to inmates trying to navigate their way through the post-secondary educational opportunities available to prisoners who do not have access to the internet for online programs. Today, their primary efforts are directed toward the 54% of the prison population that do not have their high school diploma or GED certificate.

So for the other 46%, most of which cannot afford to pay for post-secondary tuition, their years of incarceration become wasted. These are young dads and moms who in a few years will be back with their children; and will struggle to provide for and hold their families together.

Earning a college degree from a fully accredited college or university could transform the life of the individual and his or her family. Earning a college degree can turn “wasted” years into “invested” years.

We know that the intellectually rigorous process of education changes a person. An educated person thinks, reasons and acts differently. The mind of an individual is different after it has gone through the rigors of post-secondary study. Therefore, the person is different.

Quite simply, we believe that educational opportunities should not be denied to 46% of today’s ever-increasing prison population. That number represents too many lives and too many families to ignore.

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Prison Studies Project

Teaching, Research and Engagement

Why Prison Education?

“Prison education is a means of rehabilitating and re-directing. If you release someone with the same skills with which she came in, she’s going to get involved in the same activities as she did before.” – Marymount Bedford Hills Program student

The Higher the Degree, the Lower the Recidivism Rate

Studies conducted over the last two decades almost unanimously indicate that higher education in prison programs reduces recidivism and translates into reductions in crime, savings to taxpayers , and long-term contributions to the safety and well-being of the communities to which formerly incarcerated people return.

Recent research on prison education programs presents discouraging statistics on the current recidivism rate. The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) reported in 2011 that nearly 7 in 10 people who are formerly incarcerated will commit a new crime, and half will end up back in prison within three years. Given that about 95 out of every 100 incarcerated people eventually rejoin society, [1] it is crucial that we develop programs and tools to effectively reduce recidivism.

Prison education is far more effective at reducing recidivism than boot camps, “shock” incarceration or vocational training, according to the National Institute of Justice. [2] In 2001, the Correctional Education Association’s “Three State Recidivism Study” quantified this reduction, demonstrating that correctional education lowered long-term recidivism by 29 percent. [3]

A 2005 IHEP report cites yet higher numbers, reporting that recidivism rates for incarcerated people who had participated in prison education programs were on average 46 percent lower than the rates of incarcerated people who had not taken college classes. The same report examined 15 different studies conducted during the 1990s and found that 14 of these showed reduced long-term recidivism rates among people who had participated in postsecondary correctional education. [4]

The vast majority of people in U.S. prisons do not have a high school diploma. A high correlation exists between the level of education attained by an incarcerated person and his or her recidivism rate. The American Correctional Association has reported that in Indiana the recidivism rate for GED completers is 20 percent lower than the general prison population’s rate, and the recidivism rate for college degree completers is 44 percent lower than the general population’s. [5] In other words, the higher the degree earned, the lower the recidivism rate.

Increased Employment, Reduced Recidivism

This inverse relationship between degree level and recidivism rate is not surprising. According to a 2009 report from the Correctional Association of New York, a college education has become one of the most valuable assets in the United States; a bachelor’s degree is worth more than $1 million in lifetime earnings. [6] Thus the presence (or absence) of a degree has far-reaching implications for the employment opportunities available to formerly incarcerated people reintegrating into society. Gainful employment is one of the defining characteristics of successful reentry, and successful reentry and readjustment into society ultimately lower the likelihood of an individual reverting back to illegal activity. “College education helps one to get a job and therefore transition more easily to the outside.” – Marymount Bedford Hills Program student Today, an estimated 2.3 million people are incarcerated in the United States. Taken together, states spend over $52 billion annually on corrections and related activities. [7]

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the average annual operating cost per incarcerated person in 2001 was $22, 650. [8] The annual spending per student for a standard state university such as the State University of New York (SUNY) is below $8, 000. [9] In short, there is a significant cost difference between corrections and education spending.

Currently, only approximately 6 percent of corrections spending is being used to pay for all prison programming, including educational programs. A 50-state analysis of postsecondary prison education concludes that “even if educational programs are expanded, their per-prisoner cost is far less than the total cost of incarceration.” [10]

Long-Term Cost-Efficiency: Recidivism’s Cost-Cutting Effects

The high cost of correctional spending is exacerbated by an astonishingly high national recidivism rate of 67.5 percent, [11] which significantly contributes to the increasing prison population. By reducing recidivism, prison education has the far-reaching potential of reducing the entire scale of the prison population and, thus, prison costs.

A study by the Department of Policy Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles found that “a $1 million investment in incarceration will prevent about 350 crimes, while that same investment in [correctional] education will prevent more than 600 crimes. Correctional education is almost twice as cost effective as incarceration.” [12] Post-secondary education also yields multiple public benefits, including greater societal productivity, increased tax revenue and decreased reliance on governmental support. [13] In a 2005 IHEP survey, more people with a high school diploma reported receiving public assistance in every state than did those with a bachelor’s degree, and in 28 states no one with a bachelor’s degree reported receiving public assistance in the prior year. [14] “Prison higher education programs can be a cost-effective investment of taxpayer dollars.” [15]

Violence Reduction

Directors of prison education programs often report noticeable improvement in general prison conduct and discipline. One director in New York state noted that disciplinary infractions declined among his students during the course of a semester; another described how incarcerated students policed themselves out of fear of permanently losing their prison education program. A 2009 report concludes that “changes in behavior can be attributed to improved cognitive capacity as well as to the incarcerated person having the opportunity to feel human again by engaging in an activity as commonplace as going to classes.” [16]

“It occurred to me that at San Quentin the power of education had actually changed the culture within the prison. This is unheard of anywhere else in the California prison system.” – Chrisfino Kenyatta Leal, 2011 valedictorian of the Prison University Project

Survey results from an Indiana prison in the 1990s showed that incarcerated people who were enrolled in college classes committed 75 percent fewer infractions than incarcerated people who were not enrolled. A more recent study demonstrates that postsecondary correctional education programs can break down the racial barriers that are a common cause of disciplinary problems in the prison setting. [17]

The Correctional Association of New York finds that “the prison officials have often recommended reinstating college programs because of their multiple benign effects: providing an incentive for good behavior; producing mature, well-spoken leaders who have a calming influence on other [incarcerated people] and on correction officers; and communicating the message that society has sufficient respect for the human potential of incarcerated people.” [18]

Positive Effects on Children Whose Parents Are Incarcerated

“I believe education can mean the difference between a life of crime and a productive life. My educational level can influence whether my twin sons aspire to be criminals or whether they have the self confidence to pursue occupations that challenge their minds.” – Gregory Brown, Hudson Link student

The number of children affected by their parents’ incarceration is significant: In the first decade of the twenty-first century, more than half of all people behind bars had minor children at the time of their incarceration. Most incarcerated parents had lived with their children prior to incarceration and expected to be reunited with them upon release. A college education has far-reaching capacity to set a good example for these children. A study of the Bedford Hills College Program found that children of the women enrolled in the prison college program expressed pride in their mothers’ academic achievements, were inspired to take their own education more seriously and were more motivated to attend college themselves. [19]

Moreover, many studies demonstrate that postsecondary prison education programs offer a chance to break the intergenerational cycle of inequality. When children are inspired by their parents to take education more seriously, they too begin to see viable alternatives to dropping out of school and entering a life of crime, thus breaking a harrowing cycle of intergenerational incarceration.

“The more opportunities we in prison have to learn to value education and see possibilities for ourselves, the greater the chance we will break the cycle of incarceration not just for ourselves but for future generations to come.” – Chrisfino Kenyatta Leal, 2011 valedictorian of the Prison University Project

[1] Laura E. Gorgol and Brian A. Sponsler, “Unlocking Potential: Results of a National Survey of Postsecondary Education in State Prisons,” Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2011

[2] Lawrence W. Sherman et. al, “Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn’t, What’s Promising,” National Institute of Justice, 1998

[3] Stephen Steurer, Linda Smith, and Alice Tracy, “Three State Recidivism Study,” Correctional Education Association, 2001

[4] Wendy Erisman and Jeanne Bayer Contardo, “Learning to Reduce Recidivism: A 50-State Analysis of Postsecondary Correctional Education Policy,” Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2005

[5] Stephen Steurer, John Linton, John Nally, and Susan Lockwood, “The Top-Nine Reasons to Increase Correctional Education Programs,” Corrections Today , 2010.

[6] Correctional Association of New York, “Education from the Inside Out: The Multiple Benefits of College Programs in Prison,” 2009.

[7] Laura E. Gorgol and Brian A. Sponsler, “Unlocking Potential: Results of a National Survey of Postsecondary Education in State Prisons,” Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2011.

[8] James J. Stephen, “State Prison Expenditures 2001.” Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2001.

[9] Correctional Association of New York, “Education from the Inside Out: The Multiple Benefits of College Programs in Prison,” 2009.

[10] Wendy Erisman and Jeanne Bayer Contardo, “Learning to Reduce Recidivism: A 50-State Analysis of Postsecondary Correctional Education Policy,” Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2005.

[11] Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Reentry Trends in the U.S.,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1994.

[12] A. Bazos and J. Hausman, “Correctional Education as a Crime Control Program,” Los Angeles: UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research, 2004.

[13] Institute for Higher Educatoin Policy, “The Investment Payoff,” Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2005.

[14] Wendy Erisman and Jeanne Bayer Contardo, “Learning to Reduce Recidivism: A 50-State Analysis of Postsecondary Correctional Education Policy,” Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2005.

[16] Correctional Association of New York, “Education from the Inside Out: The Multiple Benefits of College Programs in Prison,” 2009.

[17] Wendy Erisman and Jeanne Bayer Contardo, “Learning to Reduce Recidivism: A 50-State Analysis of Postsecondary Correctional Education Policy,” Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2005.

[18] Correctional Association of New York, “Education from the Inside Out: The Multiple Benefits of College Programs in Prison,” 2009.

[19] Wendy Erisman and Jeanne Bayer Contardo, “Learning to Reduce Recidivism: A 50-State Analysis of Postsecondary Correctional Education Policy,” Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2005

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Federal Bureau of Prisons

Custody & care, education programs.

We offer opportunities for inmates to acquire literacy and marketable skills so they can obtain employment after release.

All institutions offer literacy classes, English as a Second Language, parenting classes, wellness education, adult continuing education, library services, and instruction in leisure-time activities.

In most cases, inmates who do not have a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED) certificate must participate in the literacy program for a minimum of 240 hours or until they obtain the GED. Non-English-speaking inmates must take English as a Second Language.

Vocational and occupational training programs are based on the needs of the inmates, general labor market conditions, and institution labor force needs. An important component is on-the-job training, which inmates receive through institution job assignments and work in Federal Prison Industries. The Bureau also facilitates post-secondary education in vocational and occupationally oriented areas. Some traditional college courses are available, but inmates are responsible for funding this coursework.

Parenting classes help inmates develop appropriate skills during incarceration. Recreation and wellness activities encourage healthy life styles and habits. Institution libraries carry a variety of fiction and nonfiction books, magazines, newspapers, and reference materials. Inmates also have access to legal materials to conduct legal research and prepare legal documents.

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Expert Commentary

The effects of prison education programs: Research findings

2014 metastudy from the RAND Corporation of correctional-education programs in the United States, summarizing their main achievements and the challenges they face.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

by Martin Maximino, The Journalist's Resource June 3, 2014

The United States has the largest prison population in the world, with more than 2.2 million inmates in federal, state and local facilities. Although the number of life sentences has quadrupled since 1984, every year approximately 700,000 citizens leave federal and state prisons in the United States to begin a new life. Moreover, the number of releases from U.S. prisons in 2012 exceeded that of admissions for the fourth consecutive year, contributing to a slight decline in the total U.S. prison population.

The professional and personal lives of these individuals after they leave prison show great variety, across different states and income levels. Many ex-offenders struggle to reintegrate into their communities and face significant challenges in re-entering the job market. In this context, recidivism often ensues: The Pew Center on the States suggests that perhaps half of all inmates released will return within three years.

But the story of their life challenges typically begins even before conviction and prison time. A 2014 U.S. National Research Council report, authored by some of the nation’s leading criminal justice scholars, notes:

Many people enter prison with educational deficits and could benefit from education while incarcerated. Literacy rates among prisoners generally are low, and substantially lower than in the general population…. Over the past 40 years, the percentage of prisoners having completed high school at the time of their incarceration fluctuated between about one-quarter and more than one-third for state prison inmates, with higher rates for those housed in federal facilities.

The report also discusses the recent policy dynamics associated with prison education:

On a positive note, basic correctional education programs have been enhanced in response to “mandatory education laws” at both the state and federal levels, requiring prisoners who score below a certain threshold on a standardized test to participate while in prison. Since the Federal Bureau of Prisons implemented the first mandatory literacy program in the early 1980s, 44 percent of states have instituted such requirements…. On the other hand, as part of the “get tough” movement discussed earlier, in 1994 Congress restricted inmates from receiving Pell grants, which had been enacted and funded by Congress in the 1970s as a way for disadvantaged groups to obtain postsecondary education. Moreover, reductions in federal funding under the Workforce Investment Act cut funding for correctional education to a maximum of 10 percent (from a minimum of 10 percent).

A 2014 study published by RAND Corporation, “How Effective is Correctional Education, and Where Do We Go from Here?” critically analyzes results across 267 empirical studies, performing what is called research “metaanalysis.” The researchers — Lois M. Davis, Jennifer L. Steele, Robert Bozick, Malcolm V. Williams, Susan Turner, Jeremy N. V. Miles, Jessica Saunders and Paul S. Steinberg — present a rigorous and systematic review of correctional education programs in the United States, as well as the results of a national survey to state correctional education directors, summarizing the main achievements and challenges faced by the field. The overall analysis suggests that correctional education has a positive and statistically significant effect on three domains that are key for reinsertion into civil society: recidivism (going back to prison because of additional crimes), post-release employment, and reading and math scores. The RAND research is designed to provide the best available evidence to help inform federal policy, following the Second Chance Act of 2007 .

The study’s findings include:

• Inmates who participated in correctional education programs had “43% lower odds of recidivating than inmates who did not.” This represents a reduction of 13 percentage points on the risk of recidivism.
• The odds of obtaining employment after being released among inmates who participated in correctional education were 13 percent higher than the odds for those who did not. However, the scholarship in this area is not as strong, making the conclusion subject to further research.
• Correctional education is a cost effective initiative; every dollar spent on prison education could save up to five dollars on three-year reincarceration costs. In this sense, the direct costs of reincarceration are far greater than the direct costs of providing correctional education.
• The study also found that for a correctional education program to be cost-effective — or to break even — it would need to “reduce the three-year reincarceration rate by between 1.9 percentage points and 2.6 percentage points.”
• The overall “meta-analytic findings indicate that participation in correctional education programs is associated with a 13 percentage-point reduction in the risk of reincarceration three years following release. Thus, correctional education programs appear to far exceed the break-even point in reducing the risk of reincarceration.”
• Overall, the mean dollars spent per student for correctional education was $3,479 in FY2009, compared with $3,370 in FY2012. This represented a 5% decrease on average in the dollars spent per student.

The report also presents the results of the RAND Correctional Education Survey, which show that, due to the economic recession of 2008, there was an overall 6 percent decrease on average in states’ correctional education budgets between fiscal years 2009 and 2012. The largest impact on budgets was felt by medium-sized and large states (on average, a 20 percent and 10 percent decrease, respectively). Nevertheless, despite the contraction after the recession, most states (44) still offered adult basic education.

One of the most interesting contributions of the RAND study is to shift the discussion from whether these correctional educational programs should exist, to what type and quality of programs would be more effective. In this discussion, the authors identify several promising initiatives: Read 180 (for reading improvement); and Florida’s Avon Park Youth Academy (for diploma completion and post-release employment).

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Martin Maximino

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Prison education project.

The Prison Education Project  has expanded educational opportunities for the in-custody population in  25  California correctional facilities and four international correctional facilities. With the assistance of 3,000 university student and faculty volunteers, PEP has serviced approximately 8,000 in-custody students in these facilities since 2011. PEP is the largest volunteer-based prison education program of its kind in the United States. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and PEP have embraced a progressive and innovative approach to supplementing and expanding educational opportunities for the incarcerated population. By providing academic, life skills, and career development programming, PEP aims to educate, empower, and transform the lives of incarcerated individuals. The goal of PEP is to create a "Prison-to-School Pipeline" and provide in-custody students with the cognitive tools necessary to function as productive citizens. Our multi-layered approach enhances human development, reduces recidivism, saves resources, and allows participants to ultimately contribute to the economic and civic life of California. The overarching philosophy of PEP is to use the resources in the backyard of each of the state’s prisons to make change e.g. university student and faculty volunteers...

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Prison Education Programs

The FAFSA Simplification Act passed on Dec. 27, 2020 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 made important changes to the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®), including the restoration of Pell Grant for students incarcerated in federal or state penal institutions and students who are subject to involuntary commitments. The law ties Pell Grant Eligibility to enrollment in an eligible prison education program (PEP). In addition, it creates a new definition of a “prison education program” and adds specific requirements for approval, reporting, oversight, and evaluation of such programs. The provisions of the FAFSA Simplification Act related to incarcerated students, have an effective date of July 1, 2023. 

Prison Education Programs are eligible programs defined by statute under 34 CFR 668.8 , offered by a public or nonprofit educational institution (as defined in 34 CFR 600.4 ), or a postsecondary vocational institution (as defined in 34 CFR 600.6 ). Private for-profit (proprietary) institutions cannot offer a Title IV eligible PEP. In addition to the definitions linked above, an eligible PEP must meet the requirements in 34 CFR 668.236 . 

You can find out more information below about the Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative as well as Prison Education Programs.

Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative

The Second Chance Pell experiment was established in 2015 and provides need-based Pell Grants to incarcerated individuals to allow them to participate in eligible postsecondary programs. This experiment provided a waiver of the at the time statutory provision that a student who is incarcerated in a Federal or State penal institution may not receive a Pell Grant. The experiment allowed some otherwise eligible students who were incarcerated in Federal or State penal institutions to receive a Pell Grant to help cover some of the costs of their participation in a postsecondary education and training program developed and offered by the participating postsecondary educational institution. 

With the passage of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Simplification Act in 2020, Congress expanded the ability to serve confined or incarcerated individuals by reinstating Pell Grant eligibility for otherwise-eligible confined or incarcerated individuals enrolled in eligible prison education programs (PEPs) beginning July 1, 2023. As a result, the current Second Chance Pell experiment ended on June 30, 2023. 

A Federal Register notice was published on April 18, 2023, that invited postsecondary educational institutions that were currently participating in the Second Chance Pell experiment to apply to participate in a new experiment under the Experimental Sites Initiative (ESI). 

The revised Second Chance Pell experiment provided new waivers to allow current Second Chance Pell institutions to continue serving their confined or incarcerated students after July 1, 2023. This gives participating institutions time to seek Department approval of their PEPs (as defined under the new regulations in 34 CFR part 668 subpart P) and avoid interrupting the educational opportunities of confined or incarcerated students currently enrolled in approved programs under the experiment. Specifically, the revised experiment will allow current participating institutions to continue offering their current programs to confined or incarcerated individuals for up to 3 award years while they work through the application and approval process for the PEP(s) they wish to offer under the new provisions.

For more information on Second Chance Pell please visit https://experimentalsites.ed.gov/approved.html  

Prison Education Programs (PEPs) were fully implemented by new regulations in July 2023. This expansion of federal financial aid should allow a far greater number of students to access federal Pell grants. PEPs allow students to continue their education and receive access to Pell grants and federal student loans while incarcerated.

Current list of approved Prison Education Programs . 

More information can be found on the Knowledge Center or in the Code of Federal Regulations . 

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Curated research on education programs in prisons and the school-to-prison pipeline

On this page, the Prison Policy Initiative has curated all of the research about the intersection of the criminal justice system and education that we know of. For research on other criminal justice topics, see our Research Library homepage.

• Degrees of difference: Do college credentials earned behind bars improve labor market outcomes? Abby Ballou, March, 2024 “Employers presented with an applicant who earned a bachelor's degree or sub-baccalaureate certificate in prison had a 42 percent higher odds of indicating willingness to call back the applicant, compared to an applicant with a GED (p = .001).”
• Participation and Outcomes in SUNY College-in-Prison Programs Office of Higher Education in Prison, State University of New York, November, 2023 “After falling 55 percent in 2020-2021 from their peak in 2018-2019, total credits earned by incarcerated students were 23 percent below their pre-pandemic level in 2021-2022.”
• Are Schools in Prison Worth It? The Effects and Economic Returns of Prison Education Ben Stickle & Steven Sprick Schuster, October, 2023 “Vocational education is somewhat more practical than ABE or secondary education, leading to a 15.6% decrease in the odds ratio for recidivism, but...College programs are especially effective tools for decreasing recidivism.”
• Racial and ethnic differences in the consequences of school suspension for arrest Benjamin W. Fisher & Alex O. Widdowson, June, 2023 “Within a given wave of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort, students who experienced an increase in suspension also experienced an increase of approximately 56.2% in their odds of being arrested in that same wave.”
• Access to Psychiatric and Education Services During Incarceration in the United States Paywall :( Brandy F. Henry & Joy Gray, May, 2023 “Psychiatric disorders were associated with lower educational attainment before incarceration and lower access to education services during incarceration.”
• The Well-Being Impacts Associated with College in Prison: A Comparison of Incarcerated and Non-Incarcerated Students Who Identify as Women Paywall :( Sarah Y. Moore and Tanya Erzen, November, 2022 “[The students'] measures of well-being, coping, and academic engagement were significantly better than the matched non-incarcerated sample for most measures.”
• Unlocking College: Strengthening Massachusetts' Commitment to College in Prison The Boston Foundation, October, 2022 “In Massachusetts, the average annual cost to incarcerate someone in a DOC facility is $92,000, significantly higher than a year of even the most expensive college program in the state.”

• Double Punished: Locked Out of Opportunity Bellwether Education Partners, June, 2022 “In many states, we found that multiple agencies are involved in supporting juvenile justice education, creating a system of fragmented responsibility.”
• The Effects of College in Prison and Policy Implications Paywall :( Matthew G. T. Denney and Robert Tynes, December, 2021 “We employ a design-based approach to infer the causal effect of participation in [a college-in-prison program]. We find a large and significant reduction in recidivism rates.”
• Access, Success, and Challenges in College-in-Prison Programs within the State University of New York Higher Education for the Justice-Involved, State Univ. of New York, December, 2021 “It is difficult for newly released prisoners to continue their education, and our data indicate that few do. Most face immediate challenges in securing housing, jobs, transportation, and identification, let alone stress in [reentry adjustment].”
• Back-to-School Action Guide: Re-Engaging Students and Closing the School-to-Prison Pipeline Sentencing Project, August, 2021 “Unless schools tap the resources of community partners and aggressively embrace promising new approaches, many young people will likely be criminalized or excluded from school due to predictable behavior problems.”
• Understanding the Landscape of Higher Education in Prison Survey 2018-2019 A Confidential Follow-up to the 2020 Annual Survey of Higher Education in Prison Programs Alliance for HIgher Education in Prison, July, 2021 “The survey aimed to illuminate program demographics, program funding, use of technology, student enrollment, and program data collection and evaluation, and the associated challenges and opportunities.”(See the five linked data briefs that describe the survey's findings.)
• Adolescent Protective and Risk Factors for Incarceration through Early Adulthood Paywall :( Elizabeth S. Barnert et al, April, 2021 “Adolescent protective factors against incarceration onset and higher incarceration frequency centered on education, including a higher grade point average and a higher likelihood of having future plans to attend college.”
• Are Effects of School Resource Officers Moderated by Student Race and Ethnicity? Paywall :( Scott Crosse et al., March, 2021 “We found that increases in offenses and exclusionary reactions due to increased SRO presence were most evident for Black and Hispanic as opposed to White students.”
• Credit Overdue: How States Can Mitigate Academic Credit Transfer Problems for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System Southern Poverty Law Center, October, 2020 “The findings confirmed that youth frequently don't receive credit for the work they complete while in juvenile justice facilities.”
• Supporting Success: The Higher Education in Prison Key Performance Indicator Framework Institute for Higher Education Policy, September, 2020 “Better understanding of student outcomes, academic quality, civic engagement, and soft skill development associated with higher education in prison will help both practitioners and policymakers.”
• Effects of school resource officers on school crime and responses to school crime Gottfredson et al., July, 2020 “The study findings suggest that increasing SROs does not improve school safety and that by increasing exclusionary responses to school discipline incidents it increases the criminalization of school discipline.”
• Reversing the Pipeline to Prison in Texas: How to Ensure Safe Schools AND Safe Students Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, February, 2020 “Traditional, punitive models of student discipline are not only ineffective, but harmful to students and communities.”
• Laying the Groundwork: How States Can Improve Access to Continued Education for People in the Criminal Justice System Council of State Governments Justice Center, February, 2020 “These findings highlight how far all states have to go to adopt the statewide postsecondary education policies and practices necessary to help incarcerated people transition to leading productive lives in the community.”
• Criminal records and college admissions: A modified experimental audit Robert Stewart and Christopher Uggen, October, 2019 “We find that applicants with prior criminal records were rejected at arate approximately 3 times higher than applicants without records from colleges that require criminal history information.”
• School Discipline, Safety, and Climate: A Comprehensive Study in New York City Center for Court Innovation, October, 2019 “Students with disabilities, those who were chronically absent, and those who were economically disadvantaged were more likely to be arrested than their counterparts.”
• Literature Locked Up: How Prison Book Restriction Policies Constitute the Nation's Largest Book Ban Pen America, September, 2019 “With over two million Americans incarcerated, the book-restriction regulations within the United States carceral system represent the largest book ban policy in the United States.”
• The Construction and Criminalization of Disability in School Incarceration Jyoti Nanda, September, 2019 “For students of color, instead of a designation that attracts more resources, disability is one of the mechanisms through which they are criminalized.”
• The School to Prison Pipeline: Long-Run Impacts of School Suspensions on Adult Crime Andrew Bacher-Hicks, Stephen B. Billings, and David J. Deming, August, 2019 “Students who are quasi-randomly assigned to schools with higher conditional suspension rates are significantly more likely to be arrested and incarcerated as adults.”
• A Piece of the Puzzle: State Financial Aid for Incarcerated Students Vera Institute of Justice, July, 2019 “Partnering with colleges and universities to provide postsecondary programs can help state corrections agencies meet institutional goals related to evidence-based practices and recidivism reduction.”
• Evaluation of North Carolina's Pathways from Prison to Postsecondary Education Program RAND Corporation, May, 2019 “Housing, employment, and transportation were among the top referrals to services provided to Pathways students, followed by family and substance abuse treatment services.”
• Aggressive Policing and Academic Outcomes: Examining the Impact of Police "Surges" in NYC Students' Home Neighborhoods Joscha Legewie, Chelsea Farley, Kayla Stewart, May, 2019 “Aggressive policing in communities can harm Black boys' educational performance, as measured by state tests.”
• Unlocking Potential: Pathways from Prison to Postsecondary Education Vera Institute of Justice, May, 2019 (The presence of higher education in prisons has the potential to reshape the ways in which incarcerated people--and their future potential--are viewed, by shifting the perspectives of corrections staff, faculty, administrators, families and students.)
• Does Locked Up Mean Locked Out? The Effects of the Anti-Drug Act of 1986 on Black Male Students' College Enrollment Tolani Britton, April, 2019 “The results suggest that Black males had a 2.2% point decrease in the relative probability of college enrollment after the passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986.”
• Investing in Futures: Economic and Fiscal Benefits of Postsecondary Education in Prison Vera Institute of Justice, January, 2019 “Expanding access to postsecondary education in prison is likely to reduce recidivism rates, resulting in a decrease in incarceration costs across states of $365.8 million per year.”
• Can Restorative Practices Improve School Climate and Curb Suspensions? RAND Corporation, December, 2018 “Suspension rates of African American students and of those from low-income families also went down in PERC schools, shrinking the disparities in suspension rates between African American and white students andbetween low- and higher-income students.”

• Don't Stop Now: California leads the nation in using public higher education to address mass incarceration. Will we continue? Corrections to College California, March, 2018 “This publication highlights California's successful efforts to build public higher education access for thousands of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students, both in custody and on college campuses throughout the state.”
• Summary of School Safety Statistics National Institute of Justice, July, 2017 “On the national level, crime at K-12 schools in the U.S., including violent crime, decreased from 1992 to 2013. Though violent crime against students increased from 2010 to 2013, the violent crime rate in 2013 was still lower than in 1992.”
• Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls' Childhood Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, June, 2017 (Adults view black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than their white peers, especially in the age range of 5-14)
• Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2016 National Center for Education Statistics, May, 2017 (This annual report, a joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the�|National Center for Education Statistics, presents data on crime and safety at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, and principals.)
• Sentencing Outcomes in U.S. District Courts: Can Offenders' Educational Attainment Guard Against Prevalent Criminal Stereotypes? Travis W. Franklin, Sam Houston State University, February, 2017 “[C]ourt actors may be less concerned (or not at all concerned) with factors typically linked to perceptions of dangerousness (e.g., race, ethnicity, age, sex, detention status) when dealing with offenders of higher educational status.”
• Expanding Access to Postsecondary Education in Prison: Fact Sheet for Corrections Leaders Vera Institute of Justice, January, 2017 “Incarcerated people who participate in prison education programs are 43 percent less likely to recidivate than those who do not.”
• Mass incarceration and children's outcomes: Criminal Justice Policy is Education Policy Economic Policy Institute, December, 2016 “It is more common for children of incarcerated parents to drop out of school than it is for children of nonincarcerated parents, controlling for race, IQ, home quality, poverty status, and mother’s education.”
• Highlights from the U.S. PIAAC Survey of Incarcerated Adults: Their Skills, Work Experience, Education, and Training National Center for Education Statistics, November, 2016 “Around two-thirds of the survey’s respondents reported that they were working prior to their incarceration: about half of them were employed full-time, with another 16 percent working part-time.”
• Making the Grade: Developing Quality Postsecondary Education Programs in Prison Vera Institute of Justice, July, 2016 “[T]his report compiles lessons from the field, offering implementation guidance to programs seeking to develop, expand, or enhance postsecondary educational programming in corrections settings.”
• Locked Out: Improving Educational and Vocational Outcomes for Incarcerated Youth Council of State Governments Justice Center, November, 2015 “At least one in three incarcerated youth is identified as needing or already receiving special education services--a rate nearly four times higher than youth attending school in the community.”
• Future Now: A Process and Intermediate Outcomes Evaluation of the NYC GED Preparatory Program Vera Institute of Justice, November, 2015 “Future Now is a GED preparatory program housed at Bronx Community College offering programs tailored to meet each student’s personal and educational needs, prepare them for college, and support students through their first year of enrollment.”
• Suspended Childhood: An Analysis of Exclusionary Discipline of Texas' Pre-K and Elementary School Students Texas Appleseed, November, 2015 “In the 2013-2014 school year, Texas schools issued 88,310 out-of-school suspensions to young children.”
• Disproportionate Impact of K-12 School Suspension and Expulsion on Black Students in Southern States University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, August, 2015 “In 132 Southern school districts, Blacks were disproportionately suspended at rates five times or higher than their representation in the student population.”
• Turning on the TAP: How Returning Access to Tuition Assistance for Incarcerated People Improves the Health of New Yorkers Human Impact Partners, May, 2015 “Expanding access to college education for people in New York prisons would benefit the overall health and well-being of the communities that formerly incarcerated people return to, as well as the individuals who receive the education, and their families.”
• Boxed Out: Criminal History Screening and College Application Attrition Center for Community Alternatives, March, 2015 “This means almost two out of every three applicants who check "yes" to the felony conviction question do not complete the application process and are never considered for admission.”
• The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Black and White ACLU of Rhode Island, February, 2015 “During the 2011-2012 school year, for example, black students comprised over 16% of suspensions statewide - more than twice their student population.”
• Public Research Universities: Changes in State Funding American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2015 “In general, state spending on corrections has grown much faster than education spending over the last three decades. In eleven states, corrections has now surpassed higher education as a percentage of funding.”
• School Discipline and Restorative Justice (Case Story) Human Impact Partners, September, 2014 “If properly implemented, restorative justice could reduce suspensions in the six schools by 20% to 40%. Restorative justice would also lower dropout rates, which in turn would lead to fewer students who end up poor or in prison.”
• Indicators Of School Crime And Safety, 2013 Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2014 “During the 2009–10 school year, 85% of public schools recorded that one or more crime incidents had taken place at school, amounting to an estimated 1.9 million crimes.”
• Unintended Consequences: Effects of Paternal Incarceration on Child School Readiness and Later Special Education Placement Anna R. Haskins, April, 2014 “Mass incarceration facilitates the intergenerational transmission of male behavioral disadvantage, and because of the higher exposure of black children to incarceration, it also plays a role in explaining the persistently low achievement of black boys.”
• How Effective is Correctional Education, and Where Do We Go from Here? The Results of a Comprehensive Evaluation Rand Corporation, February, 2014 “...correctional education for incarcerated adults reduces the risk of post-release reincarceration (by 13 percentage points) and does so cost-effectively (a savings of five dollars on reincarceration costs for every dollar spent on correctional education)”
• From Fingerpaint to Fingerprints: The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Utah The University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, 2014 “There were 1,230 disciplinary actions in 2011-12, the most recent school year for which data is available.”
• Disparities in Discipline: A Look at School Disciplinary Actions for Utah's American Indian Students The University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, 2014 (In Utah, American Indian students are almost four times (3.8) more likely to receive a school disciplinary action compared to their white counterparts.)
• Just Learning The Imperative to Transform Juvenile Justice Systems Into Effective Educational Systems Southern Education Foundation, 2014 “...most students come in and out of the juvenile justice systems with little or no real regard for their education.”
• The Degree of Disadvantage: Incarceration and Inequality in Education Stephanie Ewert, Bryan L. Sykes, and Becky Pettit, November, 2013 “Nearly three in ten white male dropouts in the United States can expect to serve time in a state or federal correctional facility in their lifetime, and nearly 60 percent of black male dropouts are imprisoned at some point in their lives...”
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education A Meta-Analysis of Programs That Provide Education to Incarcerated Adults RAND Corporation, August, 2013 “On average, inmates who participated in correctional education programs had 43% lower odds of recidivating than inmates who did not, and the odds of obtaining employment postrelease was 13% higher than those who had not participated.”
• Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2012 Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 2013 “In 2011, about 28 percent of 12- to 18-year-old students reported being bullied at school during the school year.”
• Keeping Kids In School and Out of Court: Report and Recommendations New York City School-Justice Partnership Task Force, May, 2013 “During the School Year 2012 there were 882 arrests and 1,666 summonses issued, with over-representation of students of color. Suspension and school arrest patterns are less a function of student misbehavior than a function of the adult response.”
• Does Federal Financial Aid Affect College Enrollment? Evidence from Drug Offenders and the Higher Education Act of 1998 Cornell University, January, 2013 “The ban on Federal financial aid increased the amount of time between high school graduation and college enrollment, affected students were less likely to ever enroll in college, and the law did not deter young people from committing drug felonies.”
• Handcuffs on Success The Extreme School Discipline Crisis in Mississippi Public Schools Advancement Project, American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP, Mississippi Coalition for the Prevention of Schoolhouse to Jailhouse, January, 2013 “Extreme and destructive approaches to school discipline not only have directly harmed students and families, but also have caused teachers, law enforcement officials, and community members to have their lives and careers made more difficult.”
• Are Black Kids Worse? Myths and Facts about Racial Differences in Behavior Equity Project at Indiana University, 2013 “Such studies have provided little to no evidence that African American students in the same school or district are engaging in more seriously disruptive behavior that could warrant higher rates of exclusion or punishment.”
• A Performance Audit of Inmate High School Education Utah Legislative Auditor General, August, 2012 “In fiscal year 2011, over 5,200 inmates were enrolled in adult education, which is about 22 percent of Utah's entire adult education program.”
• Arrested Future The Criminalization of School Discipline in Massachusetts' Three Largest School Districts ACLU of Massachusetts, May, 2012 “While there are undoubtedly many reasons why there are more public order arrests in Springfield than in Boston or Worcester, it appears that the manner in which Springfield deploys police officers in its public schools is a contributing factor.”
• Juvenile Justice Alternative Edu. Programs Performance Assessment Report School Year 2010-2011 Texas Juvenile Justice Department, May, 2012 “The average passing rate for reading/ELA was 68.8% compared to 38.2% for math. The overall passing rates are up from 67.6% in reading/ELA and 34.5% for math in school year 2008-2009.”
• The Post-Release Employment and Recidivism Among Different Types of Offenders With A Different Level of Education: A 5-Year Follow-Up Study in Indiana Indiana Department of Corrections and Ball State University, April, 2012 “Offenders who had a lower level of education not only had a higher recidivism rate, but also such uneducated/under-educated offenders were likely to be re-incarcerated earlier than those offenders who had a higher level of education.”
• Pay Now or Pay Much More Later Law Enforcement Leaders support high-quality early education to cut crime and save money in California Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California, April, 2012 “Research shows that high-quality preschool programs can significantly reduce felony arrests and incarceration rates and return $10 or more in savings for every dollar invested, with nearly 1/2 of the savings coming from lower prison & crime-related costs.”
• Indicators Of School Crime And Safety, 2011 Bureau of Justice Statistics, February, 2012 “In 2009–10, about 74 percent of public schools recorded one or more violent incidents of crime, 16 percent recorded one or more serious violent incidents, and 44 percent recorded one or more thefts.”
• The Education of DC How Washington D.C.'s investments in education can help increase public safety Justice Policy Institute, February, 2012 “This national trend is seen in D.C. as the funding for the justice system continues to increase at the expense of public education.”
• Education Under Arrest: The Case Against Police in Schools Justice Policy Institute, November, 2011 “[School resource officers] and law enforcement in schools are not needed to keep kids safe, especially when youth pay the price of becoming involved in the juvenile justice system and suffer a lifetime of negative effects as a result.”
• Breaking Schools' Rules: A Statewide Study of How School Discipline Relates to Students' Success and Juvenile Justice Involvement The Council of State Governments Justice Center, July, 2011 “Nearly six in ten public school students studied were suspended or expelled at least once between their seventh- and twelfth-grade school years.”
• Unlocking Potential: Results of a National Survey of Postsecondary Education in State Prisons Institute for Higher Education Policy, May, 2011 “Approximately 71,000 persons (roughly 6 percent of the total incarcerated population in responding states) are enrolled in vocational or academic postsecondary education programs in prisons for the 2009-10 academic year.”
• Misplaced Priorities Over Incarcerate, Under Educate NAACP, April, 2011 “During the last two decades, as the criminal justice system came to assume a larger proportion of state discretionary dollars, state spending on prisons grew at six times the rate of state spending on higher education.”
• Law Enforcement Officers in Wake County Schools: The Human, Educational, and Financial Costs Advocates for Children's Services, Legal Aid of North Carolina, February, 2011 (This report examines the effects of the proliferation of police officers in Wake County, NC (Raleigh area) public schools.)
• The Use of Criminal History Records in College Admissions Reconsidered Center for Community Alternatives, November, 2010 “A majority (66%) of the responding colleges collect criminal justice information, although not all of them consider it in their admissions process. Private schools and four-year schools are more likely to collect and use such information.”
• The Consequences of Dropping Out of High School Joblessness and Jailing for High School Dropouts and the High Cost for Taxpayers Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, October, 2009 “Nearly 1 of every 10 young male high school dropouts was institutionalized on a given day in 2006-2007 versus fewer than 1 of 33 high school graduates.”
• Reclaiming Michigan's Throwaway Kids: Students Trapped in the School-to-Prison Pipeline Michigan ACLU, 2009 “When school administrators refer some student discipline matters to law enforcement agencies, there is a consequent criminalization of many students whose offenses would otherwise have been dealt with entirely by school officials.”
• Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2007 Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2007 “In 2005, 10 percent of male students in grades 9–12 reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the past year, compared to 6 percent of female students.”
• Education and Public Safety Policy Brief Justice Policy Institute, August, 2007 “Graduation rates were associated with positive public safety outcomes. Researchers have found that a 5 percent increase in male high school graduation rates would produce an annual savings of almost $5 billion in crime-related expenses.”
• Literacy Behind Bars Results From the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey U.S. Department of Education, May, 2007 “In every age group examined (16-24, 25-39, and 40 or older), incarcerated adults had lower average prose, document, and quantitative literacy than adults in the same age group living in households.”
• Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics, December, 2006 “The percentage of public schools experiencing one or more violent incidents increased between the 1999-2000 and 2003-04 school years, from 71 to 81 percent.”
• Saving Futures, Saving Dollars The Impact of Education on Crime Reduction and Earnings Alliance for Excellent Education, September, 2006 “[A]bout 75 percent of America's state prison inmates,almost 59 percent of federal inmates, and 69 percent of jail inmates did not complete high school.”
• Hidden Challenges: Juvenile Justice and Education Issues Affecting Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Youth in Richmond, California National Council on Crime and Delinquency, March, 2006 “The intent of [this] report is to provide a detailed assessment of the status of Southeast Asian youth in Richmond. To this end, the report contains data from the areas of juvenile justice and education, with relevant demographic data provided for context”
• A Look At The Impact Schools Drum Major Institute, June, 2005 “...the Impact Schools initiative has brought increased police and security presence into 22 New York City middle and high schools...”(The report shows that low income, over-crowding and race are as characteristic of the schools as their crime-rates.)
• Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track Advancement Project, March, 2005 “Examination of the emergence of zero tolerance school discipline policies and how these policies have pushed students away from an academic track to a future in the juvenile justice system.”
• Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2004 Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2004
• Schools and Prisons: Fifty Years After Brown v. Board of Education Sentencing Project, April, 2004
• Current Issues in Correctional Education: A Compilation and Discussion Council of Advancement of Adult Literacy, February, 2004
• Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2003 Bureau of Justice Statistics, October, 2003
• The Effect of Earning a GED on Recidivism Rates State of New York Department of Correctional Services, September, 2003 “[T]hose inmates who earned a GED while incarcerated returned to custody within three years at a significantly lower rate than offender who did not earn a GED while incarcerated.”
• Education and Incarceration Justice Policy Institute, August, 2003
• Correctional Boot Camps: Lessons from a Decade of Research National Institute of Justice, June, 2003
• Derailed: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track Advancement Project, May, 2003 “how zero-tolerance policies are derailing students from an academic track in schools to a future in the juvenile justice system”(it's a huge (13MB) PDF file)
• Borrowing Against the Future: The Impact of Prison Expansion on Arizona Families, Schools and Communities Grassroots Leadership and Arizona Advocacy Network, April, 2003
• Education and Correctional Populations Bureau of Justice Statistics, January, 2003 “compares educational attainment of correctional populations to the general population”
• Education not Incarceration Education Not Incarceration, 2003 (California Coalition of Teachers, Students, Parents and Citizens)
• Education as Crime Prevention: The Case for Reinstating Pell Grant Eligibility for the Incarcerated Bard Prison Initiative, 2003 “This report illustrates the overwhelming consensus among public officials that postsecondary education is the most successful and cost-effective method of preventing crime.”
• Spending More on Prisons than Higher Education Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, 2003 (has official and inflation adjusted comparison from FY 1968 to 2004)
• Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2002 Bureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2002
• Cellblocks or Classrooms?: The Funding of Higher Education and Corrections and Its Impact on African American Men Justice Policy Institute, August, 2002 “State spending on prisons grows at 6 times the rate of higher education”
• ¿Dónde Está la Justicia? Un llamado a la acción a favor de los jóvenes latinos en el sistema de justicia de los EE.UU. (Spanish) Building Blocks for Youth, July, 2002
• Education vs. Incarceration: A Mississippi case study Grassroots Leadership, May, 2002
• State Correctional Education Programs: State Policy Update National Institute for Literacy, March, 2002
• Changing Minds The Impact of College in a Maximum Security Prison Graduate Center of CUNY & Women in Prison at Bedford Hills CF, NY, September, 2001
• Three State Recidivism Study Correctional Education Association, September, 2001 (Methodologically strong study on the effect of prison education programs on reducing recidivism)
• Schools and Suspensions Self-Reported Crime and the Growing Use of Suspensions Justice Policy Institute, September, 2001 “Students Report School Crime at Same Level as 1970s, But Use of Suspension Doubles”
• Follow-Up Study of Offenders Who Earn GEDs While Incarcerated in DOCS State of New York Department of Correctional Services, May, 2001 (Helping a prisoner get his GED while incarcerated cuts recidivism)
• Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2000: Crime in the Nation's schools declined in the 1990's Bureau of Justice Statistics, October, 2000
• Opportunities Suspended: The Devastating Consequences of Zero Tolerance and School Discipline Policies Advancement Project & Harvard Civil Rights Project, June, 2000 “The report illustrates that Zero Tolerance is unfair, is contrary to the developmental needs of children, denies children educational opportunities, and often results in the criminalization of children.”
• Analysis of Recidivism Rates of Education Program Participants in Virginia Kim A. Hull, et. al., June, 2000
• Impact of Educational Achievement of Inmates in the Windham School District on Post-Release Employment Criminal Justice Policy Council (Texas), June, 2000 (Windham District is the Texas prison system)
• School House Hype: Two Years Later Justice Policy Institute, April, 2000
• Educational Achievement of Inmates in the Windham School District Criminal Justice Policy Council (Texas), April, 2000 (Windham District is the Texas prison system)
• New York State of Mind?: Higher Education vs. Prison Funding in the Empire State, 1988-1998 Justice Policy Institute, December, 1998
• Class Dismissed: Higher Education vs. Corrections During the Wilson Years Justice Policy Institute, September, 1998 (California)
• U.S. Prison Spending Increases Faster than College Funding 1977-1995 ABC News, July, 1998 (Interactive state atlas)
• School House Hype: The School Shootings, and the Real Risks Kids Face in America Justice Policy Institute, July, 1998
• Is Maryland's System of Higher Education Suffering Because of Prison Expenditures? Justice Policy Institute, March, 1998
• Education as Crime Prevention: Providing education to prisoners Center for Crime, Communities and Culture, September, 1997
• Trading Classrooms for Cellblocks: Destructive Policies Eroding DC Communities Justice Policy Institute, March, 1997
• From Classrooms to Cellblocks: A National Perspective Justice Policy Institute, February, 1997
• Campus Law Enforcement Agencies, 1995 Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 1996 (600 agencies at 4-year schools with 2,500+ students)
• From Classrooms to Cell-blocks: How Prison Building Affects Higher Education and African American Enrollment in CA Justice Policy Institute, October, 1996 (California)
• Literacy Behind Prison Walls: Profiles of the Prison Population from the National Adult Literacy Survey National Center for Education Statistics, October, 1994 (the literacy levels of prisoners, by population and offense groups, with comparisons to demographically similar adults not in prison)
• Analysis of Return Rates of the Inmate College Program Participants State of New York Department of Correctional Services, August, 1991 (Allowing a prisoner to go to college cuts recidivism.)

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