Research on Prison Programming

The review conducted in 2006 by Aos, Miller, and Drake of the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, discussed in the link above on research on alternatives to incarceration, also proved to be the most useful review we found on research on what the most cost effective in-prison programmin is for reduccing rearrest rates. As mentioned above, the authors and their institution are widely respected in the field. Other national experts we consulted referred us to Steve Aos and this reveiw. In addition to being among the most recent, it was the most comprehensive we found in terms of the number of studies reviewed. It was also the most rigorous review we found. The 571 programs they reviewed had all been evaluated using rigorous methods and Aos et al used advanced meta-analysis methods to analyze the overall effects found in these studies. Moreover, it was the most policy relevant review. In addition to testing whether given programs were effective at reducing crime, it also analyzed whether, and to what extent, the economic benefits exceeded the program costs.

Accordingly, our review of prison programmin is based to a large extent on the Aos et. al. study. The findings we report, however, are supported by other reviews of the research literature. Most of the findings we report in the brief are found in Exhibit 4 on p. 9. To review the study, click here.

Another very helpful review of this research literature is the MTC Institute's report.