In the national push to increase degree attainment throughout the United States, policy-makers should focus more attention on providing post-secondary education to those who are behind bars—even if it means easing restrictions on the Internet in prison to do so.
Such is the crux of a new report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy titled “Unlocking Potential: Results of a National Survey of Postsecondary Education in State Prisons.”
“If we’re going to reach attainment goals, we’re going to have to include a whole lot of groups we haven’t thought about explicitly in our national attainment conversation,” said Dr. Brian Sponsler, a co-author of the report.
He said it’s important for policy-makers to understand that expanding post-secondary opportunities for prisoners is not just beneficial to the individual inmates but to society in the long run.
“We have a large number of people touched by our incarceration system,” Sponsler said of the 2.3 million people that the report says are incarcerated in the United States.
Citing research that says education leads to lower rates of recidivism, Sponsler said: “Providing for these educational opportunities as part of the rehabilitative process is important.”
Among other things, Sponsler’s report recommends revising state and federal laws in order to use online distance education to overcome issues of logistics, capacity and preparedness.
