A Rapid Evidence Assessment of the effectiveness of prison education in reducing recidivism and increasing employment

Abstract

This is a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) of educational programmes delivered within prison. Included in this review are evaluations of vocational, academic, basic skills, accredited and unaccredited educational provision in prison where recidivism and/or employment were measured as outcomes. Initial searches returned 4,304 titles and abstracts. Of these, 28 papers met the criteria for inclusion. Only 18 papers provided sufficient information and robust enough research design to be included in the meta-analysis. Meta-analysis on 18 reoffending studies identified that delivering education in prison settings has a positive impact on recidivism. Overall, the pooled odds ratio indicates a reduction in the likelihood of recidivating of approximately one third (0.64=64%~2/3).Meta-analysis on five employment studies identified that education in prison settings has a positive impact on employment. Overall, odds ratios indicated a 24 percent increase in likelihood of gaining employment if the prisoner engages in prison education. However, this is based on a small number of papers with statistical findings being less robust and evidence drawn largely from the USA. evidence in a reasonably timely manner. However, the trade-offs include the potential loss of some relevant studies, particularly unpublished ones. All papers included in this report discuss prison education and its impact on rates of recisidivsm and employment. The nature and types of education that are discussed vary with the majority of studies failing to provide information around the specifics types of courses. Nearly all of the papers are from the United States with only one coming from the UK. This means most papers discuss either basic education, GED (General Education Diploma) qualifications or 'post-secondary' education without providing details of subject content, delivery, or duration. There are some exceptions to this, most notably Dugiud and Pawson's (1998) work around liberal arts education in Canadian prisons provides details around the educational content. However, this level of detail was not replicated elsewhere. Most of the studies also do not provide information regarding race, gender, sentence length, or criminal conviction of the participants. This report provides background information regarding the role of education in prisons and the current policy climate in the UK. Section 3 describes how the reviewers have interpreted the terms 'prison education' and defined the research questions. Section 4 provides an account of how papers were selected for inclusion and the methods of data extraction used. Section 5 presents two sets of findings. The first set is a descriptive account of the 28 papers that relate to the link between education in prison and post-release outcomes. The second set focuses on the 18 papers that were found to be suitable for a meta-analysis. The report concludes with a discussion of the key findings. 2. BACKGROUND FOR THE REVIEW Recent and current policy All prisons in England and Wales provide education. Over the last 1...

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