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23 Aust. & N.Z. J. Criminology 1 (1990)

handle is hein.journals/anzjc23 and id is 1 raw text is: AUST & NZ JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (March 1990) 23 (1-14) PAROLEE PERSPECTIVES ON PRISON EDUCATION AND WORK PROGRAMMES* Angela Gortat and Helene Panaretos This article reports the findings of a research project which sought to document the extent to which prison education and gaol work aperience were found to be usefid by a sample of NSWparolees. The results indicate that fiom the parolees perspective educational courses in prison have some positive effects in terms of skills, self-esteem and confidence. However, no marked changes were found in the employment trends of parolees pre- and post-gaoL Work release provided some parolees with direct access to employment and in general was thought to help with readjustment to society. Overal the results indicate that there is a gap between the training a prisoner receives in gaol and the help required upon release. Introduction One rationale for offering educational, and particularly vocational, programmes in gaols is that these programmes might reduce recidivism by assisting the prisoner to find employment on release. It has been well documented elsewhere that criminal behaviour is frequently associated with a history of educational underachievement and failure (Glaser, 1964; Gorta, 1982; Harding and Gorta, 1984; Hodanish, 1976; Laycock and Griffiths, 1980; Spencer, 1980; Stirling, 1974). One of the most serious consequences of such a history is the often severe lack of marketable job skills that subsequently impedes the successful reintegration of prisoners into the community. As a consequence, money and employment are major concerns of released prisoners (Duffee and Duffee, 1981). When reviewing 48 studies conducted over a 20-year span, Duffee and Clark (1985) observed that employment is by far the most frequently recognised need of prisoners. Some studies indicate that inmates do learn skills from prison programmes (Linden and Perry, 1982; Lipton, Martinson and Wilks, 1975). However, reviews of the literature have indicated that vocational training programmes have had little or no effect on the following: employment rate or employability (Jengeleski, 1984; Lipton et al, 1975); observable measures of ex-offender employment (Wiederanders, 1981); evidence of rehabilitation (Cook, 1975); or recidivism (Jengeleski, 1984; Lipton et al, 1975). Lipton et al (1975) suggested that one possible reason for this lack of effect may be that these programmes were applied indiscriminately to all offenders. They advocated further research to identify the types of offender most likely to benefit from such skill development programmes. They further suggested that the effectiveness of skill development programmes cannot be fully determined until evaluation studies are conducted that control for prior skill level, examine and control for the effect of motivation to learn and control for the apparent enthusiasm with which subjects participate in these programmes (Lipton et al, 1975: 196). Homant (1984) has suggested that prisonisation and self-esteem are two Although this study formed part of the research programme for the Research and Statistics Division of the NSW Department of Corrective Services, the views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect policies of the NSW Department of Corrective Services. t Senior Research Officer, NSW Department of Corrective Studies, GPO Box 31, Sydney, NSW 2001. 1

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