This paper articulates the first 'general theory' of prison education, offering a new insight into the relevance of desistance theory and understanding of prison sociology to the lives of men engaged in education whilst in prison. Using a realist review method (Pawson, 2002b; Wong, 2013a) we develop a rough, initial general theory of prison…

This paper explores the reformulation of the English curriculum for prison education across England and Wales in the second decade of the twenty-first century. As a PhD researcher and Functional English teacher examining the use of drama and creative education in a prison at the time, a prohibition on the use of fictional reading and writing…

The relationship between autism, criminality and psychopathy has gained increased attention in recent years, although research has focused on autism spectrum disorders, and not autistic traits. We measured autistic traits (with the Autism Spectrum Quotient) in a sample of 101 inmates from a high-security prison and compared them to a control…

Violent extremism research is still lacking a sound empirical basis for the validation of assessment instruments. Yet there is a growing need for these instruments to assess the dangerousness of individuals, but also the success of interventions. By analysing prisoner files of one female and 39 male inmates (average age 28.83 years, SD = 7.58)…

Historically, middle grade schools doled out the harshest and most exclusionary discipline to adolescent African American males. African American males were routed along school to prison pathways at rates higher than African American females and their peers from other racial backgrounds. National conversations about exclusionary discipline…

The objective of this paper, which makes use of the concepts of power and discipline from Michel Foucault's theoretical framework, is the investigation of the impact that the manner of operation of a Second Chance School (SCS) has on the disciplinary work of a prison in Greece. The research was carried out using semi-structured interviews with the…

On a given day, more than 43,000 youths who largely identify as students of color and are disproportionately male are held in residential placement facilities as a result of involvement with the juvenile justice system. More than two-thirds of youths living in placement facilities who participated in a national survey shared aspirations to…

Purpose: Today, the criminal justice system is annually placing more than 300,000 people with severe mental illness (SMI) in prisons and jails which are neither equipped nor staffed to respond to the unique challenges of this population. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the literature that focuses on treating inmates with…

Incarcerated students are generally prohibited from receiving Pell grants, which provide need-based federal financial aid to low-income undergraduate students. However, Education has the authority to waive specific statutory or regulatory requirements for providing federal student aid at schools approved to participate in its experiments.…

Every year in America, thousands of young people age out of foster care, often at age 18, without being connected to a permanent family and other critical resources and opportunities needed to succeed in life. Many of these young people experience troubling outcomes. They are more likely than their peers who are not in foster care to drop out of…

Background: Mental health screening and assessment is crucial within juvenile correctional facilities (JC). However, limited information is available about the current screening and assessment procedures specifically within JC. Objective: The purpose of the current study was to obtain information about the mental health screening and assessment…

Respect is a fundamental aspect of how human beings relate to each other and, arguably, is a significant factor in the relationship between student and teacher. For incarcerated adults, the relationships they foster with their teachers (and by extension the respect or disrespect cultivated within it) often have a considerable impact on their…

This study was designed to acquire the first national picture of the characteristics of teachers who provide reading instruction in juvenile correctional facilities (JCF) for students with and without disabilities as well as their reading instructional approaches. A national sample of 39 teachers responded to an online survey. Results show that…

Recent studies have causally linked juvenile incarceration with higher high school dropout and adult incarceration rates, which have subsequently reduced labor market and social engagement outcomes for a population that is overwhelmingly represented by minorities. Despite extensive investment and planning by public and private stakeholders in…

In this chapter, I present narratives of two Black men who represent a population of people who are often talked about but seldom heard from in school-to-prison pipeline research. To analyze their stories, I employed a framework that centers on understanding human dignity and the conditions, circumstances, and experiences that threatened it. I…