The findings summarized here result from the largest meta-analysis on the impact of prisoner education programs in the United States, compiling 148 estimates from 78 research papers. The effect of college, vocational, secondary, and adult basic education on prisoner recidivism, employment, and wages are evaluated. Findings indicate that participating in a prison education program:
Some of these impacts shown in the research have declined slightly in recent years and are not even across all types of education. For example, secondary education and ABE have the smallest effect, while vocational training programs are highly effective given their low cost. Despite significantly higher costs, college education has the largest impact.
All forms of education provide cost-saving opportunities for states by reducing recidivism. Given the high incarceration costs, most of this benefit comes through prison-related costs, but participants benefit, too, from increased wages. Considering both of these benefits, the return on investment is robust for ABE at 104%, vocational education at 122%, and secondary education with a 210% ROI. The return for more expensive college programs is still positive at 61%. Vocational education programs provide the highest return for each dollar spent ($3.10), and college education providers the highest benefit per student ($16,861).