Providing College to Prison Inmates

Providing College to Prison Inmates
Jeanne Bayer Contardo
June 2010

ISBN-13:  978-1-59332-407-0 / Hardcover
Dimensions:  5.5 x 8.5 / xii, 208 pages

Price   $65.00

Description

College for inmates represents a particularly cost-effective strategy that, while not always politically popular, can prevent states from wasting substantial tax revenue on the cycle of catch and release called recidivism. Contardo examines North Carolina’s pragmatic postsecondary correctional education partnership between the Department of Correction and the Community College System. Participants call this 20-year-old arrangement a “win-win” and believe that inmate participation in such programs decreases inmate idleness, improves behavior while incarcerated, and helps former prisoners find employment after release and avoid reincarceration.

About the Author

Jeanne Bayer Contardo, PhD, lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and daughter. The deep racial divide in the District reminds her on a daily basis of the high cost being borne by particular demographic groups in this country and continually inspires her to work for justice.