The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.

Better job prospects. Higher wages. A greater chance of staying out of jail. Those are the key outcomes that we discovered for incarcerated people who get an education while serving their time.

Our findings were published in the American Journal of Criminal Justice. They are based on an analysis of research studies on the effects of prison education in the U.S. We examined a range of programs, from adult basic education to college. We analyzed 152 data points from 79 research papers published between 1980 and 2023.

Specifically, our analysis found:

• Reduced recidivism: Participating in prison education decreases the chances of recidivism by 6.7 percentage points – from 46% to 39.3%.

This translates to safer communities and significant savings for the state. The average prisoner in the U.S. spends nearly three years in prison, at a total cost of US$107,000.

Education programs in prisons not only decrease the likelihood that released prisoners commit future crimes and victimize more people and communities, but they reduce the likelihood of future incarceration costs.

• Improved employment prospects: Inmates who participated in educational programs had a 3.1 percentage point higher likelihood of securing employment after release than inmates who did not participate in programs – from 44.8% to 47.9%. In a society where ex-inmates often find doors closed because of...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiX2h0dHBzOi8vbWlubmxhd3llci5jb20vMjAy...