Beyond bars – Boosting higher education for prisoners

ByWagdy Sawahel. Universities and governments must not lose sight of the higher education needs of the world’s 10 million detained people. Access to education should be improved and technology harnessed to deliver cost-effective, quality programmes, to enhance prisoners’ chances of rehabilitation, employment and reintegration into society.
A 2012 study indicated that unemployment levels among released offenders are higher than among other members of society, due to inadequate education and job skills. The five-year follow-up study revealed that recidivist offenders were likely to be unemployed or under-educated. Most importantly, the study that showed formal education is an important element for re-entry into society, impacting on both post-release employment and recidivism.
People behind bars: Worldwide view
Over 9.25 million people are detained globally, either as pre-trial detainees or as sentenced prisoners. Almost half of these are in the US (2.19 million), China (1.55 million) or the Russian Federation (870,000). And prison populations are on the increase in an estimated 73% of the world's countries, according to a 2009 UN report titled The Right to Education of Persons in Detention. Women represent a small proportion of the global prison population; available figures suggest the rate is between 2% and 9%, with the global average at roughly 4%.
“Nearly seven in 10 formerly incarcerated persons will commit a new crime, and half will end up back in prison within three years. Given that roughly 95 of every 100 prisoners will eventually rejoin society, policy efforts to decrease the likelihood of recidivism are important on both social and economic grounds,” according to the May 2011 report, Unlocking Potential: Results of a national survey of postsecondary education in state prisons.
John Daly, a science and technology consultant and former director of the office of research at USAID, told University World News that in the US prisoners are incarcerated for longer periods and for less serious offences than elsewhere. He pointed out that adding a criminal record to the problems that led initially to crime makes it doubly hard for such people to get decent jobs and rebuild their lives when they are again free.
He argued that higher education programmes that help prisoners obtain skills and certification seem to pay off, by allowing them to work on release: “Graduates of these programmes have lower recidivism rates."