Correctional Institutions Can Do More To Improve the Employability of Offenders

The inadequacies in education and training programs in Federal and State correctional institutions for improving the employability of offenders has caused much concern. Most offenders are not prepared to obtain and maintain legitimate employment. They need basic education, marketable vocational skills, social skills, and placement assistance.

The opportunities for offenders to improve their legitimate employment prospects while in correctional institutions are limited. Classification, assignment, counseling, and guidance services neither identify offenders' needs and interests nor encourage participation in appropriate programs. Academic education, occupational training, and work assignments do not prepare offenders for employment. Transitional programs do not receive enough attention and education and training programs have not been fully evaluated. Management information systems do not effectively keep track of offenders and system performance.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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