Oklahoma Literacy Resource Office
Oklahoma Department of Libraries Online (ODL Online)
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/index.html

Outcomes

Prisoners generally have significantly lower literacy skills than the general population. Those who improve their skills return to prison less often.

Need

• Only 51 percent of prisoners have completed high school or its equivalent, compared with 76 percent of the general population.
• Seventy percent of prisoners scored in the two lowest literacy levels of the National Adult Literacy Survey. This means that while they have some reading and writing skills, they are not adequately equipped to perform tasks like writing a letter, explaining an error on a credit card bill, or understanding a bus schedule.
• Inmates who have a high school diploma demonstrate lower basic skills than members of the general public with a high school diploma. Eleven percent of prisoners self-report having learning disabilities, compared with three percent of the general population.

Education Level of Prisoners
15% Less than high school
35% Some high school
15% High school diploma
18% GED
17% Some postsecondary

Delivery System

• The federal prison system began mandatory literacy training in 1982, and in 1991 raised the achievement standard from 8th to 12th grade.
• The percentage of inmates with low literacy skills who actually receive literacy education is estimated at 7 to 10 percent.

Outcomes

• Various studies have found that education diminishes the rate of recidivism. A study by the Federal Bureau of Prisons concluded that "the more actively the inmates successfully participated in prison education programs, the less likely they were to recidivate."
• A Virginia study found that out of a sample of 3,000 inmates, 49 percent of those who did not participate in correctional education programs were re-incarcerated, compared to 20 percent of those who did participate in these programs.
• An Illinois study found that inmates with an education of 8th grade or less were re-arrested at a rate of 62 percent. High school graduates had a re-arrest rate of 57 percent, and those with some college, 52 percent."

The following series of articles all appears at LD Online (http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/adult/correctional_education_programs.html)
from the original publication Linkages - Linking Literacy and Learning Disabilities
Fall 1996, Volume 3, Number 2, National Adult Literacy & Learning Disabilities Center, A program of the National Institute for Literacy.

What is Correctional Education? | Literacy Fact Sheet - Correctional Education
Correctional Education Programs for Adults with Learning Disabilities
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