Research on Prison Higher Education
Mount Tamalpais College is committed to demonstrating the powerful impacts of higher education in prison and to supporting the expansion of thoughtfully designed and effectively implemented programs in prisons across the country which foster opportunities for incarcerated people.
Best Practices Report
Equity and Excellence in Practice: A Guide to Higher Education in Prison was co-authored by Mount Tamalpais College President Jody Lewen. It offers practical advice for anyone seeking to launch, expand, or improve upon an in-prison higher education program.
The following list contains additional scholarship on higher education in prison.
- Ajinkya, Julie and Michael Scott Brick. 2020. "Supporting Success: The Higher Education in Prison Key Performance Indicator Framework." Institute for Higher Education Policy, September 2020.
- Barton, Paul and R. Coley. 2006. “Locked Up and Locked Out: An Educational Perspective on the US Prison Population.” Educational Testing Service, Policy Evaluation and Research Center. Princeton, NJ. February 2006.
- Eugene, Tobin. 2016. "Higher Education Has Given Me My Humanity Back," Shared Experiences Blog, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. October 2016.
- Fabelo, Tony. 2000. “Impact of Educational Achievement of Inmates in the Windham School District on Recidivism.” Criminal Justice Policy Council, State of Texas, August 2000.
- Harer, Miles D. 1995. “Prison Education Program Participation and Recidivism: A Test of the Normalization Hypothesis,” Federal Bureau of Prisons, Office of Research and Evaluation, May 1995.
- Kling, Jeffrey and John. Tyler 2006. “Prison-Based Education and Re-Entry into the Mainstream Labor Market.” Brown University, National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, National Bureau of Economic Research. June 2006.
- Lewen, Jody. 2014. "Prison Higher Education and Social Transformation." St. Louis University Public Law Review 33.
- Murillo, Danny. 2021. "The Possibility Report: From Prison to College Degrees in California." The Campaign for College Opportunity. February, 2021.
- Petersilia, Joan. 2005. “Prisons Can Be Cages or Schools.” Los Angeles Times. October 16, 2005.
- Steurer, S. J., Smith, L., & Tracy, A. 2001. “Education Reduces Crime: Three-State Recidivism Study.” Lanham, Maryland: Correctional Education Association.
- Open Society Institute. 1997. "Education as Crime Prevention: Providing Education to Prisoners.” Occasional Paper Series, no. 2, (September).
- Vacca, James S. 2004. “Educated Prisoners are Less Likely to Return to Prison.” Journal of Correctional Education 55, no 4 (December).
- Werth, Robert and Jennifer Mary Sumner. 2006. “Inside California’s Prisons and Beyond: A Snapshot of In-Prison and Re-Entry Programs.” Irvine, CA: Center for Evidence-Based Corrections.
- Western, Bruce, V. Schiraldi and J. Ziedenberg. 2003. “Education and Incarceration.” Justice Policy Institute.
