Post-secondary education: a bridge out of criminality

Abstract

This project portfolio provides a proposed educational program for women transitioning out of criminality. By providing criminalized women with access to post-secondary education, this program seeks to remedy the injustice that has been served to many women who were marginalized and victimized before being criminalized for their crimes of survival. The program is based on the premise that recidivism rates are reduced when criminalized women are provided with post-secondary education that in turn leads to secure employment that provides a living wage. This portfolio includes a literature review that explores correctional education in Canada and how it serves, or fails to serve, female inmates. The literature review seeks to describe the “typical” female inmate and her needs, the reasons why governments provide inmates with education, the reasons why inmates participate in education while incarcerated, and the type of educational programming that is available to female inmates in Canadian prisons. In addition, this portfolio contains a website that delves deeper into issues of gender in the criminal justice system and concludes with a video describing my research and proposed program. The program proposal contained in this portfolio includes a General Education (GNED) roadmap that demonstrates the efficacy of a program based on GNED courses and includes a sample lesson and a culminating assignment.