Punishment is an acknowledged method of enforcing the law. Forms of punishment may differ, but the main aims remain the same—first, to discourage transgression of the law, thus maintaining order in society. Second, it is hoped, by some at least, that prisoners will be reformed by or during their punishment. This dissertation raises questions about the status and legal rights of individuals who are subject to the dominant form of punishment in Canada—incarceration. The questions are: Can prisoners continue to be regarded as persons and right-holders during incarceration? Can prisoners, then, have a right to education? If so, should such a right be made a legal right? The answer one gives to these questions clearly has important bearings on the status of prisoners during their incarceration. It is argued that prisoners retain their status as persons while incarcerated, that they do have rights, in particular the right to education, and that such a right should be made a legal right. Justice dictates that only relevant differences or just cause can provide acceptable justification for withholding rights from prisoners. That punishment is being inflicted on certain persons does not offer/provide adequate grounds for denying their right to education. Indeed, a legal right to education is warranted to ensure their access to education. Thus, the first proposition is that apart from the loss of rights necessary to protect society and the prison, and in order to fulfil the criteria of punishment, prisoners continue to hold rights held by other persons, in particular the right to education. This position is defended by considering arguments that prisoners have a moral right to education. These are: 1. The Argument from Incarceration 2. The Argument from The Effects of Punishment 3. The Argument from Punishment of Persons 4. The Argument from Fraternal Obligation 5. The Argument from Social Effects 6. The Argument from Benefits to the Collective 7. The Argument from Equality The second proposition that this right ought to be made a legal right rests essentially on three premises: 1. That education can contribute to the successful achievement of the goals of incarceration. 2. However, education is not considered a priority. 3. As it now stands, there is no effective way to enforce and sustain education in prisons. With a legal right to education, prisoners would have some basis for objecting to inadequate educational facilities and opportunities. A legal right would safeguard fair treatment and ensure equal opportunities to education. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

The purposes of the study were to describe the status of curricular offerings and educational facilities at each Indiana correctional institution and to develop curricular models for juvenile and adult offenders in Indiana correctional institutions. No attempt was made to compare or contrast the various institutions.

The purpose of the study was to test the assumption that educational programs had a positive effect upon the institutional behaviors of incarcerated male felons. The sample was the total population of 1,667 offenders located at Indiana Reformatory during 1988. The data were fairly conclusive and supportive of the assumption, at least when offenders participated in a meaningful manner.Findings were based upon the data gathered through inspection of each offender's official institutional records. One-way and two-way analyses of variance and the Scheffe Procedure were used to analyze data. Standard statistical analysis was used to generate the general findings. The .05 level of significance was selected as the critical probability level for the acceptance or nonacceptance of the eight null hypotheses. Seven of the eight null hypotheses were rejected. / Department of Educational Leadership

No description available.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

This study is an exploration of prison learners' experiences of the educational rehabilitation programmes offered in the Westville Youth Centre School. The study was done in the Westville Youth Centre, which is situated in the Durban Management Area in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The sample consisted of eleven prison learners of the Usethubeni Youth School, nine educators from this school and one control educator (who is responsible for co-ordinating the educational rehabilitation programmes in the Durban Management Area). Data was collected through interviews and questionnaires. Interviews with learners were done at different intervals. There was an in-depth interview with one of the learners and two focus group interviews, which consisted of five learners in each session. A questionnaire was used to gather data from educators and finally an in-depth interview was conducted with the co-ordinator of educational rehabilitation programmes. Photographs of the prison classroom and the cell were taken by the researcher to illustrate the context in which the research was done. The varying methods of data collection revealed that what is referred to as "educational rehabilitation programmes" are programmes similar to any school curricular outside the prison. There is nothing unique about this curriculum. The participants felt that this curriculum was not rehabilitative because it did not include programmes that could curb recidivism (relapsing into crime) by empowering prison learners and helping them "unlearn faulty behaviour." This study concludes with the recommendations for the Department of Correctional Services' policy makers and planners as well as the managers of educational rehabilitation programmes in the Durban Management area. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Durban-Westville, 2002.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of education on inmates while they remained incarcerated. A total of 90 student-inmates participated in the survey research project. A self-report survey was generated for this research to measure confidence, self-esteem, communication competence, lifelong learning, and critical thinking. Descriptive statistics and open-ended comments revealed high levels of confidence, self-esteem, and communication competence among student-inmates. Respondents were also found to be developing the beginning traits of lifelong learners and critical thinkers. The results were interpreted with respect to adult education theory. Methodological implications of the findings were discussed for future research. / Department of Communication Studies

Prisons are organized to hold and control inmates. Inmates traditionally oppose authority, and the social ecology of prisons resists change-oriented programs. Successful educational programs appear to neutralize certain negative aspects of the social ecology while engaging inmates in setting and working toward pro-social goals. One initiative is the Simon Fraser University prison-based baccalaureate program in the humanities. Inmates in this program appear to develop positive student roles. Explanations for the program's apparent success had not previously examined the interaction between inmates and the social ecology of the program. Previous accounts of the program relied on anecdotal reviews and psychological explanations of inmate development. To bridge this gap, this study was designed to explicate a theoretical model to explain student roles and associated feeling states and expectations, to operationalize it, and to examine relationships with various socio-demographic and carceral variables. Three approaches were used. The first involved formulating the model, drawing on previous studies and experience with inmates in this program, literature about the program, and role theory. A model of role development was posited. It has five stages: (1) Recruitment, (2) Disorientation, (3) Separation, (4) Transition, and (5) Solidarity. The second phase involved operationalizing the model. Seventy written statements were constructed representing inmates' feelings toward prison, and the university program, at each stage of the model. They were judged by five experts in correctional education who strongly concurred in assigning the 70 statements into respective stages. The second phase also involved a card sort of these 70 statements by 33 inmate university students in one prison. They sorted the cards according to: (1) "how I feel now"; (2) "how I used to feel, but not now"; (3) "never felt like this"; and (4) "don't know." For the third phase, data were analyzed using Pearson correlations and ANOVA statistical procedures. The major conclusions which emerged from the study pertained to the three purposes. With regard to the explication of a model of role development, it was concluded that (1) Role theory is an appropriate framework for articulating a model of prison ecology, and (2) Inmates experience five distinct and sequential stages of role development. With regard to the operationalization of the model, it was concluded that (1) Judges found the overall model plausible and workable, (2) Judges were able to reliably discriminate items into stages, and (3) Inmates' responses confirmed intra-stage reliability. With regard to relationships between scores obtained from operationalizing the model and various socio-demographic and prison-related variables, it was concluded that (1) The expected associations were not confirmed, (2) Inmates' forwarding of feelings from previous incarcerations supports the Importation model, (3) A counter-intuitive finding (university term by Recruitment) is probably an artifact of previous penitentiary experience, and (4) The university program does foster pro-social role development, thus providing support for the "some things work" position. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

In order to determine if curricula in postsecondary programs for offenders possess special content included specifically for these students, a comprehensive review of the literature on postsecondary correctional education was conducted, followed by the development of five case studies of offender-related programs. To decide which programs were most appropriate for the study, a panel of national and regional authorities on the subject was assembled to nominate institutions for study. The responses of the panelists were quantified, and produced these nominations: (1) Southeastern Illinois College and its program at the Vienna Correctional Center; (2) The University of Washington Resident Release Project, which consists of inmates living on campus and attending classes; (3) Rhode Island College's Project OPTIONS, which is currently in suspension for lack of funds, although it has the most specialized credit offerings; (4) Hartnell College which, at the state prison in Soledad, California, has a non-credit program with courses specifically tailored to meet inmate needs and interests; and (5) Cuesta College, which has a program managed by a prison educator. The differences which exist in course content are largely a result of administrative planning, but some social science faculty report that they alter their courses to meet student needs and interests. Virtually no elements are added on the basis of a published theory of principle, but most special content exists to integrate the offender into society after a period of incarceration. Although two of the programs studied have been evaluated on the basis of recidivism figures, the studies have flaws. Evaluation is, therefore, an area in need of further study. Several specific types of related research projects might answer questions raised by this study, and the use of establishd curricular theories in planning programs would provide an empirical framework for correctional postsecondary education. Also of particular interest would be basing program mission on the welfare of society in general rather than considering only the needs of offenders.

The purpose of this investigation was to obtain a broad view of the development and structure of the program of college education conducted at the Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP) in Salem, Oregon to arrive at a means to explicate program effectiveness. This research problem encompassed the compilation and interpretation of an historical chronicle, based upon the views of program participants, including inmate-students, teachers, and administrators, directed at the history, development, and structure of the program. The specific research objectives of this investigation included the following: 1) Review of the existing literature describing schooling within prisons; 2) development of a research protocol; and 3) utilization of the developed protocol to conduct research on the development and structure of the college education program at OSP, including: a. a record of the overall effectiveness of the program and the degree to which it has been accepted, based upon the attitudes and feelings of past and present program participants, to include inmate-students, teachers, administrators, and volunteers, and b. a chronicle of the development and status of the college education program as perceived within the community in which it has been administered. These research objectives were achieved by application of a triangular methodology involving a review of appropriate literature, personal observations, and interviews with past and present staff members as well as student-inmates in the OSP college education programs. Thus it was concluded, subject to persistent communication problems that would seem to be inevitable when the principles of "academic freedom" are introduced into the closed and restrictive penitentiary environment, that the college education program at OSP has been successful in the view of inmate-students, education and prison staffs, and concerned institutional administrators. It may be foreseen that, as teachers presently employed at OSP quit or retire, all academic and vocational education at OSP, with the exception of baccalaureate programs, will in the future be contracted through existing community college programs. With the continued development of education programs within state penal institutions, communicative research should continue apace to minimize potential conflicts between the programs for the different types of programs offered. / Graduation date: 1993