I have been criticized for trying to help inmates, by some. I would like to say that inmates are people too, there is no category they fall in except most were poor. People have a right to humane treatment, read the United Nations Standards and Guidelines Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. One thing many people don't think about is the courts make mistakes, there are innocent people in prison. I know for a fact many prisons are below what most people would consider minimum requirements for humane treatment.
Many inmates get out one day and most go back.
One thing that did work was PELL grants, this was a system that supplied college courses to inmates. The results were staggering it seems if some one has a chance at the American dream they stick by the rules. The public outcry was also a shock, many voters disliked paying for criminals education. So the program was ended. To me it made good financial sense, the cost of keeping an inmate, the court costs, the property damage etc involved with a crime add up to a lot more than PELL grants.