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It is the purpose of this study to show how the Academic Educational Program of the Adult Authority at San quentin in succeeding or failing in its avowed aim, the education of the illiterate prisoners. The protection of society, both immediate and ultimate, in conceived to be the primary purpose of a correctional system. "1 However, this study will not include the broad rehabilitation phase of the programs but will be limited to the academic accomplishments in terms of public school grade placement.

For nearly three decades, the United States of America has been the consistent leader in incarceration rates worldwide. A number of structural social problems have contributed to this reality (e.g., the school-to-prison pipeline, the 1994 Crime Bill, and aggressive surveillance and policing of poor and minority neighborhoods). Recently, a number of structural solutions have presented themselves in effort to decarcerate prisons and consider pathways for returning citizens with emphasis on housing, healthcare, and education. This dissertation focuses on the education component with an eye toward higher education-in-prison programs (HEPPs). The last decade denotes an inflection point for mass incarceration and HEPPs in part due to increased funding from public and private sectors as well as bipartisan support for making higher education accessible for incarcerated people. In the midst of cross-sector support for these programs, the colleges and universities providing the core elements – teaching and learning – have been mostly silent actors. This study looks at partnerships between prisons and higher education institutions and centers the voices and narratives of higher education faculty and administrators responsible for leading HEPPs. Drawing on the civic mission of higher education, as well as participants’ conceptions of their work, this study considers how faculty and administrators describe the intent and function of their HEPPs and the extent to which they align with the civic mission of higher education. Through a qualitative multisite case analysis of three higher education institutions in New York State, the findings of this study reveal that these programs view themselves as being responsive to historical structures of inequity in higher education and broader society. They also conveyed a desire for their programs to become an institutionalized component of their college or university. There were five patterns, across cases, that provided insight into these programs and multiple levels including: (1.) program professionals, (2.) program place and space, (3.) programs in service to the institutional mission and civic mission, (4.) program attentiveness to external factors, and (5.) program conceptualization: the two-way partnership misnomer. These patterns might also prove relevant to university partnerships more broadly. The study concludes with implications for theory, practice, and future research related to HEPPs with emphasis on the need to situate all aspects of these programs not, as they often are, in economic and workforce metrics, but rather in the experiences of faculty, staff, and students participating in college-in-prison as well as returning citizens attending college.

This exploratory study was conducted in the Commonwealth of Virginia and included Wardens, Department of Correctional Education Principals, community college Deans, and community college personnel assigned as prison program coordinators for college/correctional institution programs. Those were the total number of instructional managers responsible for postsecondary programs in medium and maximum security correctional institutions in the Commonwealth during November 1986. Surveys and interviews were used to obtain individual perceptions of responsibilities to be assigned to colleges and correctional institutions when agreements are for educational programs are developed. Agreements used by colleges that were members of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and correctional institutions were reviewed. There was no consistency among the states' agreements in the responsibilities included or in the institution assuming the same or similar responsibilities. A review of journal articles describing responsibilities in existing or proposed college/correctional institution programs revealed no consistency in the responsibilities necessary to be included in agreements. The responsibilities found in the state agreements as well as those in the journal articles provided examples of reasonable responsibilities for instructional managers to consider when developing agreements for college programs in correctional institutions. A survey form was developed and administered to instructional managers. College coordinators of college/prison programs provided the largest percentage of responsibilities to be included in agreements, but correctional institution instructional managers overall responded with a larger number of necessary responsibility statements than college instructional managers. Generally instructional managers chose responsibility statements in the categories of Instruction, Curriculum Support, and Equipment and Supply to be included in agreements. Responses to the open-ended question asked during the interview phase revealed problems in the current structure of the college/prison programs. Many problems were appropriate for the categories of Faculty and Staff, Students, and Instruction. Wardens articulated the highest number of problems and were the only group of instructional managers to express concern about inmates as students in the community at the time they were released from the correctional institution. Instructional managers ranked Student and Faculty and Staff categories of responsibility statements as most important to include in agreements although they did not select them to be included in agreements. Recommendations for improving the current method of providing college programs to incarcerated persons include the development of a statewide system composed of state level leadership. Individual colleges need to improve the quality of support and transitional services for students. / Ed. D.

This study aims to explore the management of offenders’ education for optimum rehabilitation in a Correctional Centre in Gauteng. In this study the nature of correctional education management is explored in relation to the self-concept of offenders as learners, as well as their view and experience on their future position as released parolees striving for reintegration into the society. Methodologically, the study is located in the qualitative paradigm where a questionnaire was designed to gather the respondents’ demographic profiles, and to extract from them the factors that influence crime propensity and amenability to correction through correctional education. The questionnaire was targeted at all functionally literate participants who indicated their interest at the sampling stage. The research site was a Correctional Centre in the Gauteng Province. Respondents comprised sixteen offenders and five officials. The key findings of this research are that policy intervention is crucial to improve the management of offenders’ education, so to remove barriers that hinder the exercise of effective education. How offenders’ education is managed impacts on their receptiveness of education. This implies their fate as future ex-offenders and their prospects of employment after release as citizens are tarnished with the stigma of a criminal record. Their self-esteem seems to improve with the acquisition of well managed education, while on the other hand, propensity to recidivate is high where the management of their education has failed and hopelessness and lack of motivation in planning for a better future pervade. Thus, proper management of offenders’ education can go a long way to ensure their successful reintegration in the society. The research report concludes with recommendations that could have implications for future research in the context of correctional education management, as well as implementation and monitoring of such management via policy in order to achieve optimum rehabilitation of offenders. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

The number of children whose mothers are incarcerated is increasing around the world. Educators of young children are faced with new challenges in their classrooms as they work with these children during their formative years for social-emotional development. The purpose of this qualitative study was to interview the mothers, in order to gain their perspective on how they feel their incarceration has affected their relationship with their children; how they believed it would affect their children in the future, and to investigate the perceptions of early childhood teachers who worked with children of incarcerated mothers. Using interviews, observations, journal, and field notes the researcher collected information from 3 incarcerated mothers, 3 of their children, and the 2 teachers who worked with these children. Overall findings were that the mother-child relationships are of extreme importance to the mothers. They have high hopes for a better life for their child, which includes concerns about their education. Mothers had fears that their incarceration would repeat itself in their children and desired for things to be different in their children's futures. They reported their incarceration affecting their children in negative ways. Their children had difficulty depicting their mothers in their drawings. Lastly, the teachers highly encouraged parental involvement, even though the mother was incarcerated. They expressed the importance of the mother-child relationship impacting the child's ability to learn, and teachers believed special training and preparation are necessary for working with these children.

No description available.

This study aims to explore the management of offenders’ education for optimum rehabilitation in a Correctional Centre in Gauteng. In this study the nature of correctional education management is explored in relation to the self-concept of offenders as learners, as well as their view and experience on their future position as released parolees striving for reintegration into the society. Methodologically, the study is located in the qualitative paradigm where a questionnaire was designed to gather the respondents’ demographic profiles, and to extract from them the factors that influence crime propensity and amenability to correction through correctional education. The questionnaire was targeted at all functionally literate participants who indicated their interest at the sampling stage. The research site was a Correctional Centre in the Gauteng Province. Respondents comprised sixteen offenders and five officials. The key findings of this research are that policy intervention is crucial to improve the management of offenders’ education, so to remove barriers that hinder the exercise of effective education. How offenders’ education is managed impacts on their receptiveness of education. This implies their fate as future ex-offenders and their prospects of employment after release as citizens are tarnished with the stigma of a criminal record. Their self-esteem seems to improve with the acquisition of well managed education, while on the other hand, propensity to recidivate is high where the management of their education has failed and hopelessness and lack of motivation in planning for a better future pervade. Thus, proper management of offenders’ education can go a long way to ensure their successful reintegration in the society. The research report concludes with recommendations that could have implications for future research in the context of correctional education management, as well as implementation and monitoring of such management via policy in order to achieve optimum rehabilitation of offenders. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Prisons provide us with a place to segregate criminals from the population at large, but the ongoing question is what to do with them once we have incarcerated them? On one side there is the idea that prisons should be used to punish those who have broken the law. On the other is the idea that prisons should help to rehabilitate prisoners so that they may be reintegrated into society upon their release. The purpose of this study was to examine the role correctional education programs played in the life of female offenders in light of the debate mentioned above. Based on qualitative research, the aim of this study was to listen to the prisoner's voice. What did inmates think about correctional education programs offered? Did they want such programs? Did they feel empowered by them, or did they resist being 'rehabilitated' and feign compliance? How did inmates make sense of their learning experience?

The new millennium saw the explosion of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), coupled with the Internet as the way to communicate and gain knowledge. Traditional schooling has moved to open and distance e-learning and many educational institutions are offering these as alternatives. In correctional institutions the education centres have fallen behind in this regard. This dissertation is based on a participatory study that will show how open and distance e-learning can benefit inmates. The researcher has a unique perspective as he is himself, an inmate in a correctional centre in South Africa, and has first-hand knowledge and experience of the correctional institution environment. In-depth interviews with inmates and correctional officers were performed resulting in different views on the subject. A survey was conducted to ascertain inmates’ educational levels and their requirements. This study also determines what role the digital divide plays in the education of inmates or the lack thereof. The research indicates that education can reduce recidivism. With e-learning more inmates could receive education and become better prepared for life outside of the correctional institutions. This could result in them becoming productive members of society. The feedback obtained via interviews shows that the majority of inmates are eager to better themselves. The major problem is financing, and the struggle with communication with the distance learning institution. With e-leaning these two problems could easily be resolved. There are a good deal of educational resources available for free called Open Educational Resources (OER), and communication with the distance institutions can be exchanged via e-mail and/or video-conferencing. A major hurdle that would have to be overcome is to get the government of South Africa behind the drive to implement e-learning. The correctional institutions are the ideal environment to test whether South Africans will be receptive to e-learning. The research in other countries is overwhelmingly positive, and with a successful pilot project e-learning could be shown to be effective in bridging the digital divide / School of Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)