Prison-Based Education and Re-Entry into the Mainstream Labor Market / John H. Tyler, Jeffrey R. Kling.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tyler, John H.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Kling, Jeffrey R.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w12114.

NBER working paper series no. w12114

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2006.

Summary:

We estimate the post-release economic effects of participation in prison-based General Educational Development (GED) programs using a panel of earnings records and a rich set of individual information from administrative data in the state of Florida. Fixed effects estimates of the impact of participating in the GED education program show post-release quarterly earnings gains of about 15 percent for program participants relative to observationally similar non-participants. We also show, however, that these earnings gains accrue only to racial/ethnic minority offenders and any GED-related earnings gains for this group seem to fade in the third year after release from prison. Estimates comparing offenders who obtained a GED to those who participated in GED-related prison education programs but left prison without a GED show no systematic evidence of an independent impact of the credential itself on post-release quarterly earnings.

Notes:

Print version record

March 2006.