Studies in Illinois, Florida, Alabama and New York found that adult inmates engaged in academic education had lower criminal involvement, less recidivism, higher employment and more likelihood of continuing their education once they were released. The more education people have and the more literate they become, the less likely they are to commit crimes. It was this indisputable fact that prompted the Legislature to approve the Prisoner Literacy Act, which requires the Department of Corrections to provide literacy programs in every prison, with the goal of raising the reading skills of every inmate to a ninth-grade level by the time they are paroled. Clearly the law is being ignored. Teacher vacancy rates in the prisons are at all-time highs.
Class sizes are enormous.