Education Cuts in Correctional Facilities Put at Risk Community Security, Watchdog Warns

Reductions to educational initiatives within prisons are impeding prisoners' work and training opportunities, in the long run posing a risk to community safety, according to a new analysis from a correctional oversight organization.

Cycle of Reoffending Connected to Lack of Education

Habitual offenders often create mayhem in their neighborhoods due to the inability of prisons to supply sufficient training and work opportunities that could help disrupt the cycle of reoffending, the findings stated.

I hold serious worries about the impact of real-terms education funding cuts on already insufficient provision and about the absence of genuine appetite and ambition for improvement that this represents.”

Budget Reductions Threaten Reform Efforts

In spite of commitments to improve availability to education, funding on direct educational services in prisons is being cut by up to 50%, per latest reports.

Although the total training allocation has stayed the same, the expense of course agreements has increased significantly, according to prison governors.

• Just 31% of former prisoners are working six months after release
• Ninety-four of 104 closed prisons were rated “poor” or “not sufficiently good” for purposeful engagement
• Average attendance in training activities was just 67% in reviewed prisons

Insufficient Conditions Impede Reform

Crowded conditions, a shortage of training facilities, equipment failures, and ageing facilities have compounded the problem, according to the report.

Many prisoners remain for extended periods to be allocated an activity space and are often assigned any is open, rather than training relevant to their employment opportunities upon leaving.

Although activities proceeded, full-day positions generally engaged prisoners for just a limited time per day, with numerous positions divided into part-time slots to extend meagre resources more widely.

Government Response and Future Plans

The prison system has a responsibility to protect the community by making prisoners less inclined to reoffend when they are released, but frequently it is falling short to fulfill this obligation.

The best administrators understand that prisons, and in the end our communities, are safer if prisoners are meaningfully occupied, and that training, skill development and work play a crucial role in encouraging inmates to change their behavior.

“We know that meaningful activity can help to facilitate safe and decent correctional facilities and have a transformative effect on recidivism rates.”

Until officials in the prison service take the provision of high-quality training and training more seriously, it is difficult to see how extremely high reoffending levels can be lowered.

The spending reductions are also likely to impede efforts to introduce a new reward-driven prison system that would allow prisoners to gain reductions their incarceration by finishing work, training and education programs.