Teaching an inmate while they are in prison increases the chances of them not getting sent back to prison by 43%, according to the Prison Studies Project.

Education should be provided to all people in jail willing to take the initiative.

“Seven in ten people who are formerly incarcerated will commit a new crime, and half will end up back in prison within three years,” said Prison studies Project. If someone goes to prison, they most likely will give up and not care about their future. This will make them want to or have to commit more crimes if they get out of jail at all. Many people that have committed a crime were because of positions they were put in that they might not have known better. Young kids raised in places with not as much money might be pressured into violence and drugs. This is also because of lack of education. According to Prison Studies Project, “The vast majority of people in U.S. prisons do not have a high school diploma.”

People all around the world are raised completely different and see the world different ways. If you give people an education, it gives them hope to turn their lives around.

“Today, an estimated 2.3 million people are incarcerated in the United States. Taken together, states spend over $52 billion annually on corrections and related activities, said Prison Studies Project. This money can in turn be spent on something that will benefit the people in jail and the rest of the community. Although it will take some money to start out, it will in turn save money because people will not go back to jail. Also, we are wasting taxpayer money on something that does not benefit or solve the problem.

After the help of education in prisons, according to Inside Higher Ed, “The combined wages earned by all formerly incarcerated people would increase by about $45.3 million during their first year back in their communities.” This is a lot of extra money benefiting the economy and also the former inmates.

“More effective at reducing recidivism than boot camps, “shock” incarceration or vocational training,” said Prison Studies Project.  Most people will not want to become a better person by being harmed or put down. If someone is shown that someone believes in them being able to turn their life around, it will prove more effective. If you show someone a way out of the possible hard positions or lives they were put in before jail, they will want to change. Obviously you cannot help everyone in the world, but this way is much more beneficial.

The Marshall Project works to to educate and enlarge the audience of people who care about the state of criminal justice. Many people do not know how much an education for prisoners could help or even know much about the criminal justice system at all. Donate to this project or just share the link to help educate more people.