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Cited by 91Criminal Justice and Corrections AnalysisCriminal Justice and PenologyCrime Patterns and Interventions

A rapid evidence assessment of the effectiveness of prison education in reducing recidivism and increasing employment

Open access
Ellison, Mark, Szifris, Kirstine, Horan, Rachel, Fox, Chris·2017·Probation Journal
DOI 10.1177/0264550517699290
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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 4304 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 per cent 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.

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  • Educational programs that allow inmates to work toward high school and college-level diplomas are linked to significant increases in postrelease employment and decreases in recidivism.

    “In particular, within carceral settings, educational programs that allow inmates to work toward high school and college-level diplomas are worth investing in, as they are linked to signi fi cant increases in postrelease employment and decreases in recidivism (Chappell, 2004; Ellison et al., 2017).”

    From A call to dismantle systemic racism in criminal legal systems. (2022) · cites this paper as Ellison et al., 2017

    The Previous reviews of the evidence section reports lower recidivism for high school/GED participants and for programs including postsecondary education. The paper’s meta-analysis finds higher pooled postrelease employment odds for prison education overall, but it does not establish a significant employment increase specifically for high-school- or college-level diploma programs; the employment studies had mixed results. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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2 of the 36 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 8

  1. Burke, L. O., & Vivian, J. E. (2001). The effect of college programming on recidivism rates at the Hampden County house of correction. Journal of Correctional Education , Vol.52(4) pp.160-182.
  2. Harper, G. and Chitty, C. (Eds.) (2005) 'The Impact of corrections on re-offending: a review of 'what works'', Home Office Research Study 291, London: Home Office
  3. Hull, K., Forrester, S., Brown, J. J., & McCullen, C. (2000). Analysis of recidivism rates for participants of the academic / vocational / transition education programmes offered by the Virginia Department of Correctional Education. Journal of Correctional Education , Vol.51(2) pp.256-261.
  4. Ministry of Justice. (2010). Compendium of reoffending statistics and analysis Executive Summary: Ministry of Justice Statistics bulletin. London: Ministry of Justice.
  5. Pearson, F. S., & Lipton, D. S. (1999). The effectiveness of educational and vocational programs: CDATE meta-analyses. Presented at Annual Meeting American Society Criminolgy. Toronto.
  6. on_task_force Spearlt. (2016). Keeping in REAL: Why congress must act to restore Pell Grant funding for prisoners. University of Massecheusetts Law Review , 11 **
  7. Viechtbauer (2010). Conducting meta-analysis in R with the metafor package. Journal of Statistical Software Vol. 36(3)
  8. Zgoba, K., Haugebrook, S. and Jenkins, K. (2008). The influence of GED obtainment on prisoner release outcomes. Criminal Justice and Behaviour, Vol.35(3) pp.375 -387.

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Authors
Ellison, M., Szifris, K., Horan, R., & Fox, C.
Affiliations
  • Manchester Metropolitan University (GB)
  • The Averment Group, UK
Corresponding author
Szifris, Kirstine
ORCID
Venue
Probation Journal
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2017-03-22
Volume
64
Issue
2
Pages
108-128
ISSN
  • 0264-5505 (ISSN-L)
  • 1741-3079
DOI
10.1177/0264550517699290
OpenAlex
W2598027346
Cited by
90
References
36
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3
FWCI
8.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Probation Journal (publishedVersion)
  • e-space (Manchester Metropolitan University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
  • Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Justice and Penology
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
Keywords
prison education, recidivism, prisoner reoffending, prisoner employment, vocational education, academic education, basic skills education, prisoner rehabilitation

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