With the loss of the grants, prison college programs are virtually extinct. But the Pell-grant controversy is only a small part of a huge and largely undocumented trend. The increase in prison violence over the past few years has coincided with big cuts in educational and vocational programming at all levels. College-aid programs like one administered by New York State's Tuition Assistance Program have died, and allocations for basic literacy and GED programs have been scaled back drastically. At least twenty-five states have made cuts in vocational and technical training, the areas most likely to provide inmates with an alternative career when they leave prison.
Most states now have long waiting lists for classes of any kind.
Even in states where programs have not been cut, prison overcrowding has often rendered them almost useless. You can't learn that way. In New Jersey the ratio of inmates to prison programs rose from 32 to 1 in 1984 to 83 to 1 at the beginning of last year. Numerous studies have shown a correspondence between educational programs and reduced recidivism rates. And federal surveys have found a significant difference between those prisoners who participated in classes and those who did not.