The Idea of an Essay, Volume 4

160 The Idea of an Essay: Volume 4 suggesting how his findings impact policymakers. “If policymakers’ ultimate goal is to reduce crime, the lack of a statistically significant relationship between prison courses and recidivism show that supporting educational and vocational programs is inefficient. Resources would be more wisely transferred to reducing crime in other fashions.” While this policy shift flows naturally from Allen’s research, it also disagrees with most other professional research. With the benefit in correctional literacy training recognized by most professionals, it becomes important to evaluate the barriers to implementing such programs. Some research shows that institutional staff are excited and willing to implement such programs, but other researchers found that staff were a large barrier to implementation and seemed to fight such programs. Apart from mere attitude, it also becomes important to recognize financially how feasible these programs are, or if their funding would provide too great a barrier. Perhaps the most important barrier to examine is the view of correctional staff in implementing literacy programs. Vacca (2004) draws attention to the importance of prison administrators, expressing that “program success or failure is hampered, however, by the values and attitudes of those in the authority position.” In looking at these attitudes, The Criminal Justice Initiative (1997) noted that “the vast majority of corrections officials believe that educational programs not only benefit inmates, but also the facility’s administration ... Indeed, 93% of prison wardens ... strongly supported educational and vocational programming in adult correctional facilities.” This quote shows strong support from wardens for implementation of such programs, but it is important to note this study dates in 1993. Drakeford (2002) in the Journal of Correctional Education offered a contrasting opinion stating that, “Some youth correctional officers in key positions believed reading literacy programs interfered with daily operations. Protests were raised over the timing of the sessions ... One major challenge faced by implementers of the study is changing youth correctional officers attitudes towards reading instruction. This will require a shift in institutional culture.” This opinion is more recent, and presents that at least in juvenile systems, many officers resist the training so important to decreasing recidivism. Drakeford (2002) presents the question that must be answered in dealing with this problem,