Prison Vocational Education and Policy in the United States : A Critical Perspective on Evidence-Based Reform

This book explores California's prison system in the context of vocational education reform. For prisons in the early twenty-first century, ideologies of evidence-based management meant that reform efforts to change the purpose of prisons from punishment to rehabilitation through vocational education required evidence" to justify policy prescriptions. Yet who determines what constitutes evidence? In political environments, solution s are typically pre-conceived, which means that the nature of the evidence collected is also preconceived. As a result, key assumptions about outcomes are often wished away to show improvement and be accountable. Through a detailed analysis interspersed with stories from the authors' experiences "behind the wall" among California's prison population, the authors challenge the nature of evidence-based research as used in the prison environment. In the process they describe the thorny problems facing reformers. Summary from publisher Front Matter....Pages i-xv Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Structure and Thesis of the Book....Pages 3-9 Applied Research in California’s Prisons....Pages 11-40 Prison Logic Meets Educational Research Logic: The Undiscussables of Evidence-Based Decision-Making....Pages 41-59 Front Matter....Pages 61-61 Vignette: Could the Prisoner be My Son?....Pages 63-67 Report: Vocational Education in California Prisons: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Twelve Courses....Pages 69-84 Report: Literature Review....Pages 85-102 Vignette: Sunglasses....Pages 103-108 Vignette: Greenhouses....Pages 109-113 Report: Methods....Pages 115-125 Report: Results Research Questions....Pages 127-231 Vignette: Shifting Bureaucratic Sands and Work Stoppages....Pages 233-236 Vignette: I’m All Good....Pages 237-241 Report: Discussion....Pages 243-250 Vignette: Educators Only Whisper in a Custody World....Pages 251-257 Report: Recommendations and Conclusion....Pages 259-265 Vignette: Denial of Love and the Birds of Desert Rose....Pages 267-272 Vignette: Life Without Parole and “Could Be Worse”....Pages 273-277 Front Matter....Pages 279-279 Evidence-Based Decision-Making and the Rise and Fall of Rehabilitation in California’s Prisons 2005–2012....Pages 281-306 Back Matter....Pages 307-319 "This book explores California's prison system in the context of vocational education reform. For prisons in the early twenty-first century, ideologies of evidence-based management meant that reform efforts to change the purpose of prisons from punishment to rehabilitation through vocational education required "evidence" to justify policy prescriptions. Yet who determines what constitutes evidence? In political environments, solutions are typically pre-conceived, which means that the nature of the evidence collected is also preconceived. As a result, key assumptions about outcomes are often wished away to show improvement and be accountable. Through a detailed analysis interspersed with stories from the authors' experiences "behind the wall" among California's prison population, the authors challenge the nature of evidence-based research as used in the prison environment. In the process they describe the thorny problems facing reformers"- - Springer