Summary
California currently has the highest incarceration rate in the world with 1.5 million mostly non-violent offenders in prison. High-quality correctional education, including remedial, secondary, postsecondary and trade school correctional education has been shown to reduce re-incarceration rates. Reducing inmate recidivism, via correctional education can ultimately save taxpayers money and create safer communities. Correctional education could save California taxpayers millions of dollars as it presently costs taxpayers approx.11 billion annually at min. ($71,000.00 per person) for the 189,000 inmates within the California prison system.
I. Problem:
A. Under President Bill Clinton, in 1994, Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (VCCLEA), a
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Continue the Pell grant ban which has less deterrent value then restoring the grant.
B. Access which option is the most cost-effective. i.e. continue ban or reinstate grants.
1. Today it costs $ 71,000 annually to incarcerate an individual with added annual cost increases in prison budgets as operational and inmate populations increase.
2. Using the Pell Grant as a standard, it costs approximately $4,000 to $5,000 a year to deliver educational services to each California inmate.
C. Criteria: 1. Effectiveness: LCTC not effective due to inmate costs, incarceration rates and ever increasing operational costs of running California prisons.
2. Feasibility: LCTC not feasible as inmates released from prison without viable educations or vocational training have little prospects for employment causing them to return to crime.
3. Sustainability: LCTC is not sustainable as it contributes to high taxes, inmate recidivism, unsafe society and a need for more police and prisons. V. Alternative ll: Reinstate Pell grant