High points of learning behind bars: Characteristics of positive correctional education experiences for incarcerated girls

Jerry Flores, Kati Barahona-Lopez, Janelle Hawes and Neha Syed

International Journal of Educational Development, 2020, vol. 77, issue C

Abstract: In California incarcerated juveniles are legally mandated to attend school while behind bars. Previous research shows that the quality of education people receive behind bars can increase their educational attainment, improve the probability of other positive life chances, and lowers the likelihood of recidivism. As we interviewed incarcerated girls, they described their corrections-based educational experience as overwhelmingly positive. This paper examines why girls viewed these experiences so positively. Small classrooms, student-teacher relationships and interactions, and meeting the girls’s housing and food needs, each contributed to their positive outlook. Ultimately, being behind bars allowed them to access a more intimate, favorable educational experience.

Keywords: Correctional education; Ethnography; Qualitative research; Prisons; Juvenile detention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:injoed:v:77:y:2020:i:c:s0738059320303692

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2020.102210

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