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Decreases to educational programs within prisons are impeding inmates' employment and training options, eventually posing a risk to public safety, according to a new report from a prison watchdog organization.

Cycle of Reoffending Connected to Shortage of Education

Repeat criminals often cause mayhem in their neighborhoods due to the inability of prisons to provide sufficient training and work opportunities that could help break the pattern of reoffending, the report noted.

I hold significant concerns about the impact of real-terms education funding cuts on currently insufficient provision and about the lack of real appetite and ambition for improvement that this signifies.”

Budget Cuts Threaten Rehabilitation Efforts

Despite promises to improve availability to learning, funding on frontline learning programs in prisons is being reduced by as much as 50%, according to latest disclosures.

Although the overall education budget has stayed the same, the cost of course agreements has soared, according to correctional governors.

• Just 31% of former prisoners are working half a year after release
• Ninety-four of one hundred four inspected prisons were rated “inadequate” or “not sufficiently good” for meaningful engagement
• Average attendance in educational programs was just 67% in inspected institutions

Inadequate Situations Impede Reform

Overcrowding, a shortage of workshop space, equipment breakdowns, and aging facilities have compounded the situation, according to the analysis.

Many prisoners wait for weeks to be allocated an training spot and are often assigned whatever is open, rather than training applicable to their career prospects upon leaving.

Even when work proceeded, full-time positions generally engaged inmates for just five hours per day, with many roles divided into part-time places to stretch limited resources further.

Government Position and Upcoming Initiatives

The prison service has a duty to safeguard the public by making inmates less inclined to commit crimes again when they are released, but frequently it is falling short to fulfill this obligation.

The best administrators understand that jails, and ultimately our society, are safer if prisoners are purposefully occupied, and that training, skill development and employment play a crucial role in encouraging prisoners to change their behavior.

“We know that meaningful activity can help to facilitate secure and proper correctional facilities and have a transformative impact on recidivism levels.”

Until leaders in the prison system take the provision of effective training and skill development more seriously, it is difficult to see how appallingly high reoffending levels can be reduced.

The spending reductions are also likely to hinder initiatives to implement a new reward-driven prison system that would enable prisoners to gain reductions their sentence by finishing employment, training and learning courses.