What’s the problem?
Although the number of incarcerated people in Maryland prisons has doubled since 1982, there are fewer students. And there are significantly fewer teachers than there were two decades ago. According to available reports and the testimony of former program directors, annual GED completion numbers have dropped from 1,000 in fiscal year 2000 to less than 500 in fiscal year 2017, 0 during COVID, and 171 in 2022. These reports indicate that funding is much lower in real dollars and as a percentage of expenditures for corrections than it used to be.
While some of the decrease in GED completions resulted from the increased difficulty of the revised GED 2014 exam, the number of students attending school has also dropped. Waiting lists for school skyrocketed with the passage of legislation in 2019 increasing mandatory school attendance to 240 days. However, some of those who complete the 240-day requirement are dropped from school even before they attain their GED diploma.
A study by the Abell Foundation estimated that a third of incarcerated individuals had a high school diploma, but that without additional remediation many did not possess adequate reading or writing skills to succeed in postsecondary education. Moreover, monetary incentives for incarcerated people to participate in school are no higher than for jobs in prison maintenance. According to the Abell Foundation, prisoners “on work crews earn $3 to $4 per day, whereas those enrolled in education programs earn just $1 per day.”
Correctional education is important because it reduces future crime by lowering recidivism, thereby changing the lives of incarcerated people, their families, and the community. Several RAND Corporation research reports underscore the societal and financial benefits of correctional education, showing that it significantly lowers recidivism and provides a substantial return on investment.
What’s the solution?
The Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform (MAJR) endorses a Commission to study current programs and recommend how to improve the educational outcomes of Maryland prisoners. Education programs should be a central part of an overall rehabilitation and reentry plan, along with substance-abuse and mental health programs.
- The Commission should utilize the extensive research by the RAND Corporation, the Abell Foundation, the Educational Testing Service, the Vera Institute of Justice, and others to evaluate Maryland’s current educational and job training programs and make recommendations on how to improve them.
- The Commission should study the current reentry data collection and tracking systems and recommend ways to include individualized educational and career plans in every incarcerated person’s rehabilitation and reentry plan.
- The Commission should look at effective correctional education systems in other states and recommend a stronger and coordinated structure for programs in Maryland state agencies along with the various colleges and universities.
Will this work?
These measures will encourage more incarcerated people to discover their own capabilities and become serious learners. If they leave prison with up-to-date skills, diplomas, and certificates, they will have a better chance of becoming productive workers and tax-paying citizens. Ultimately, the state will save money and see less crime because returning citizens will be prepared to enter the job market with credentials for well-paying jobs.
Until 1994, the state relied solely on Pell grants to fund college-level programs. Just before Pell grants ended in 1994, over 1,000 people in Maryland prisons attended college. The number soon dropped to zero. Experimental Pell Grant funds became available during the Obama administration, and four Maryland universities and colleges were awarded federal grants and started programs. In 2023, when Pell grants were fully restored, several area colleges and universities applied for and received Pell Grant approval by the U.S. Department of Education.
Because most Maryland prisoners do not have a high school diploma and many received their GED with a score below college readiness, the growing number of college programs will be competing for a limited number of students. Currently, there is little or no formal coordination between the Correctional Education Program and the various colleges and universities that provide courses. The Commission will aim to remedy these defects.
Status of the legislation
Delegate Marlon Amprey has sponsored two pieces of legislation in 2024 addressing these problems. One will establish a Prison Education Delivery Reform Commission (HB0209) to develop recommendations relating to education and the criminal justice system. The other (known as REAP (HB0092) will require DPSCS to assist incarcerated individuals in accessing federal education grants and will require relevant agencies to set goals and establish tracking systems related to incarcerated individuals in education programs.
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In two studies, How Effective Is Correctional Education, and Where Do We Go From Here? and Higher Education Programs in Prisons, the RAND Corporation showed the connection between participation in education programs while incarcerated and a reduction in recidivism.
The Abell Foundation’s 2017 report, Prison Education: Maximizing the Potential for Employment and Successful Community Reintegration, identifies the untapped potential of correctional education to improve outcomes and recommends an enhanced incentive system.
In its 2020 report, How to Unlock the Power of Prison, the Educational Testing Service recommended improving the quality and quantity of educational programs in prisons, providing greater incentives for people to participate in them, and enhancing instruction in computer skills.
The Vera Institute of Justice has produced several reports on the benefits of offering higher education to people in prison.
From 1982 to 2009 the Correctional Education Council produced annual reports with program data and recommendations, stored in the Maryland Law Library in Annapolis. An exhaustive search indicates that reports from 1997 to 2009 were not saved. Recent reports are available on the CEC website. But they lack comparative data and thus are not very illuminating.
