Journal of Correctional Education

Report From the European Prison Education Association

The European Prison Rules and Education in Prison along with many other documents that will be of interest to correctional educators are available at www.coe.int. Since the beginning of the EPEA's involvement with the Council of Europe, Janine Duprey Kennedy has represented the EPEA.

United States Department of Education Update

When he appeared on the stage at the National Press Club on December 5, 2008 for the release of a paper by Harvard Sociologist Bruce Western titled "From Prison to Work, A Proposal for a National Prisoner Reentry Program," many of us in the authence expected to hear this co-sponsor of the Second Chance Act open the day's meeting with brief and highly scripted remarks repeating common statistics and arguments pertaining to the urgency of enhanced prisoner rehabilitation and reentry efforts. [...

Jail Participants Actively Study Words

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the impact of a word study literacy approach on the spelling ability and self-efficacy of adults in a county jail. Forty-four inmates participated in the word study intervention that provided them with hands-on learning. The word study intervention was conducted in four separate sessions (September, November, January, March) during 2-week periods. It was delivered to small groups of 3-6 inmates. Each group received the same method of intervention t...

Reading Achievement of Incarcerated Youth in Three Regions

The reading achievement of 398 incarcerated male juvenile offenders was measured at three long-term correctional facilities in three distinct regions of the U.S. Participants were assessed in the areas of word identification, word attack, and comprehension. Results were analyzed by age, ethnicity, and special education status. Overall, reading achievement was in the low-average range, but there were significant differences by ethnicity and special education status.

Learning to C: Visual Arts Education As Strengths Based Practice in Juvenile Correctional Facilities

Strength-based approaches, originating in juvenile justice as early as the late 1800s, situate the work of juvenile correctional facilities as assisting youth in utilizing their strengths and competencies to understand how they can be applied their lives to affect change and growth. While strengths-based approaches might have originated philosophically in juvenile justice they have not persisted in practice. In this qualitative case study of an art program in a juvenile correctional facility,...

Professional Development: A Capacity-Building Model for Juvenile Correctional Education Systems

Youth in correctional facilities experience a broad range of educational, psychological, medical, and social needs. Professional development, a systemic process that improves the likelihood of student success by enhancing educator abilities, is a powerful way to positively affect student outcomes in correctional settings. This article offers a professional development framework designed for the juvenile justice system. It includes information on the background and purpose of professional deve...