Correctional Education: How Effective Is It and What Can We Do to Make It Better?

About the Briefing

Over two million adults are incarcerated in U.S. prisons, and each year more than 700,000 leave Federal and state prisons and return to communities. Unfortunately, within three years, 40 percent will be re-incarcerated.

One reason for this is that ex-offenders do not have the knowledge, training, and skills to support a successful return to their communities. Trying to reduce such high re-incarceration rates is partly why so many resources are devoted to educating and training individuals while in prison.

But how effective—and cost-effective—is correctional education? Lois Davis presents results from a comprehensive RAND study on correctional education that was conducted for the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, and funded under the Second Chance Act of 2007.

About the Speaker

Lois M. Davis is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Davis currently is leading a national study on prison closings and other responses of state correctional systems to fiscal pressures. She also is conducting an evaluation of a demonstration project of post-secondary education for incarcerated adults. Davis just completed a comprehensive assessment of correctional education in the United States for incarcerated adults and juveniles and, before that, a multiyear study on the public health implications of prisoner reentry in California. Past research includes a commissioned study to examine disparities faced by African-American and Latino boys and men in California across specific socioeconomic, health, safety, and school readiness indicators and the health status of returning prisoners. Davis received her Ph.D. in public health from the University of California, Los Angeles.