New Report: Postsecondary Education In Prison Increases Employment Among Formerly Incarcerated, Cuts Costs & Benefits Businesses

New Report: Postsecondary Education In Prison Increases Employment Among Formerly Incarcerated, Cuts Costs & Benefits Businesses
"The Vera Institute of Justice and the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality today released a new report, “Investing in Futures: Economic and Fiscal Benefits of Postsecondary Education in Prison.” The first of its kind report found that removing the federal ban on Pell Grants for people in prison would:

• Increase employment rates among formerly incarcerated students by 10 percent, on average; combined earnings among all formerly incarcerated people would increase by $45.3 million during the first year of release alone;
• Provide employers with a larger pool of skilled workers to hire; and
• Reduce recidivism rates among participating students, saving states a combined $365.8 million in decreased prison costs per year.

Link to Full Report
 

What are Inmates Learning in Prison? Not Much
"...A report released Thursday by the advocacy group Families Against Mandatory Minimums provided an inside look at educational opportunities within the federal prison system that inmates say suffers from a glaring lack of trained instructors and a scarcity of classes.

The survey found that nearly all continuing education classes are led by fellow prisoners with little teaching experience. Job skills programs are only available to inmates who are nearing release, and college courses are too expensive for inmates whose incomes rely on the few dollars they earn from prison jobs. Very few respondents said they had access to a computer. In one case, a survey respondent said his prison geology class consisted of watching episodes of the BBC television show Planet Earth."

View the Report
 

News in Brief:

Canada:

• What's behind the trend of declining crime rate in Toronto?
  Commentary by the Centre's Professor Rosemary Gartner
• Stephen Harper is wrong: Crime and sociology are the same thing
  Article by Centre graduate Rashmee Singh
• Women and girls often exploited in street gangs, says ex-member
   Ian McKinney, 24, opens up on the dangers of Winnipeg gang life
• Reports contradict PM's view on aboriginal women victims
• Fairness for Victims Act faces major constitutional problem
• Boat crash on Lake Ontario leads to key test of civil forfeiture law
• Robert Latimer case: How Harper's tough agenda ignores individual nature of crime
• Black inmate sues B.C. over alleged KKK beating and "torture" by jail staff
• Are you on the no-fly list?  Who knows?
• Audit raises concerns about prisoners' privacy rights
• Library time and book access limited for federal prisoners, advocates say
• Red Devils: A glimpse into Hamilton's oldest outlaw biker gang

U.S.

• Three-quarters of Americans want cameras in the Supreme Court as one federal judge demonstrates why some of his colleagues don't  
• Are police bigoted?  Race and police shootings: Are blacks targeted more?
• Should Twitter, Facebook and Google executives be the arbiters of what we see and read?
• San Quentin's museum is captivating 

U.K.

• Tough case to crack: the mystery of Britain's falling crime rate 
• Home Secretary launches best use of stop and search scheme
• "Prisons are being reduced to warehouses": Company pulls the plug on contract to educate inmates at High Down