Education policies in prisons: an analysis focused on the 10 largest prison populations

Abstract

The article analyses prison education policies, within the right to education framework of the ten largest prison populations in the world identified in the World Prison Brief database of the Criminal Policy Research Institute at the University of London, which aggregates world data on the prison system. Focused on education in prisons in these ten countries, it mobilized articles published in journals indexed by SCOPUS and EBSCOhost, from 2015 to 2021, and official documents on educational and penal policies. The study showed that, despite the international legal and normative advance, the right to education in prisons still needs to be ensured in some countries. The education conceptions vary among education as formation (emancipation); education as correctional training (indoctrination); and education as a legal-normative discourse (theoretical adherence to international agreements). The last two orientations show the urgency of debates within the scope of the United Nation's 2030 Agenda.