America’s prisons are currently home to over 2.3 million inmates, making the American prison system the largest in the world. What is most impressive about this figure is the fact that China (population 1,321,851,888) has three times the population of the United States (301,139,947), but only 1.5 million inmates. Similarly, the state of Texas (population 20,851,820) has almost the same population as New York (19,490,297), but has three times the number of inmates with approximately 172,000 inmates in Texas (738,000 when including individuals on probation or parole) and 63,000 in New York. Between 90 and 95 percent of America’s and Texas’ inmates will eventually be released from prison. Unfortunately for Texas, 30 percent or greater of those released from prison will return.

Literature suggests that in-prison education works to reduce recidivism. The purpose of this study is to determine if educational programs offered in Texas prisons are positively impacting inmates upon release. Using interviews and narrative inquiry, this qualitative study chronicled the lives of ten former Texas inmates with various backgrounds, levels of education obtained, gender, and race. From the interviews, narratives were written which depicted the former inmates’ lives prior to, during, and after incarceration to the present day. From each unique narrative, the researcher identified themes that assisted the researcher in determining if the former inmate-students’ perspective of in-prison education is consistent with the existing literature. The researcher concluded that in-prison education significantly worked against factors thought to be pre-determinants of criminal activity (i.e., lack of education, poor family structure, lack of employment, helplessness, and poverty) for the former inmates interviewed for the study. Thus, in-prison education appears to have had a positive impact on the lives of these inmate-students.