Showing Up: The Gendered Effects of Social Engagement on Educational Participation in U.S. Correctional Facilities

Abstract

The United States is home to the world's largest correctional system where the majority of released ex-convicts reoffend. Consequently, accessing successful methods of reducing recidivism has become tantamount, with education as the most powerful predictor of decreased recidivism. This research found gendered differences in educational program usage based on group membership. Participation in prison parenting groups was found to be a greater predictor of college and vocational educational program usage for women than for men. For male inmates, membership in any type of organized group activity was found to predict greater educational program usage in college and vocational education programs.

Prisons as Schools: Inmates’ Participation in Vocational and Academic Programs in Chinese Prisons

“…Push/pull factors could work in divergent manners for males and females, and they shape participation differently according to the specific type of involvement in educational programs. Previous studies have shown that males and females could be encouraged or discouraged from participation by different factors and in divergent ways (Crittenden & Koons-Witt, 2017; Tietjen et al, 2018). Therefore, we call for fine-grained, sex-specific analyses of the potential effects of push/pull factors in studies on correctional education within the context of contemporary China.…”

“…Empirical evidence supports the importance of the responsivity principle. For example, researchers have consistently shown gender differences in patterns and manners of participation in rehabilitation programs (e.g., Crittenden & Koons-Witt, 2017; McCall, 2016; Tietjen, Garneau, Horowitz, & Noel, 2018). In addition, it has been found that educationally disadvantaged prisoners tend to be more motivated to participate in education during incarceration (Manger, Eikeland, & Asbjørnsen, 2013).…”

“…Studies have shown that participation is affected by a range of additional variables operating at both individual level and institutional level. At the individual level, inmates’ participation have been found to be influenced by gender, age, race, peer pressure, support from correctional officers/staff, language proficiency, competing prison activities, lack of information, nationality, and offense type (Aldridge, 2015; Brosens et al, 2015; Brosens et al, 2016; Croux et al, 2019; Manger et al, 2010; Tietjen et al, 2018; Velasquez, 2016). At the institutional level, inmates’ participation is often conditioned on program availability, adequacy of qualified adult education teachers, facility and teaching and learning materials, availability of staff and resources, lack of integration between education and prison work, and long waiting list (Brosens et al, 2015; Crittenden & Koons-Witt, 2017; Kyalo, MuIwa, Matuta, & Rutere, 2015; Tietjen et al, 2018).…”

Gender and Prison Recidivism: The Influence of Protective and Risk Factor

“…However, other research shows results are mixed. Most importantly, very little previous research has examined whether protective factor correlates are gendered in their impact on reoffending (see Bates and Mears, 2008;Makarios et al, 2010;Olson et al, 2016;Taylor, 2015;Tietjen et al, 2018) or represent support for an importation or deprivation model of prison. This study assesses the correlates of protective factors education, community ties and relationship status (importation), and protective factor programming (deprivation) on reoffending by gender.…”

“…In a review of research on the effect of prison education programs on recidivism, Esperian (2010) concluded that education for inmates reduced recidivism dramatically and cited a U.S. Department of Justice report that prison-based education is the single most effective tool for lowering recidivism (Education Services Newsletter, 2009). Tietjen et al (2018) suggest that education is actually the most powerful correlate of decreased recidivism. Yet the effect of education in these studies was not tested regarding potential gender differences.…”