Conversations with Male Inmates at Indiana State Prison Concerning Education and Its Rehabilitative Effects

The purpose for this collection of essays is to influence the development of prison education programs and to sway educators and researchers to see the possibilities of working together through consistent, rational public policy for successful rehabilitation. Opening educational opportunities for those people in prison has been proven successful, and yet our society and lawmakers refuse to see the corollary between recidivism rates and education. Without an effective dialogue, we cannot begin to address the problem. The men who have written for this book do so with the hope that they can participate in a national debate about the causes and the effects the prison culture has upon the incarcerated. They hope their experiences with education can speak for the hundreds of thousands of other prisoners who do not have access to a public forum, who are intimidated into silence by the prison machinery, who are not literate enough to express themselves. They hope that their offerings here can, in some small way, contribute to reducing the suffering and frustration that hamper the rehabilitation of others in the system and to educate the public community about the prison culture of America.