The Idea of an Essay, Volume 4

164 The Idea of an Essay: Volume 4 when they overcome this barrier they often feel more equipped to overcome other educational barriers. The article points to the success of mentors as well as the use of computers to aid the literacy learning of offenders, as computers allow offenders to feel less threatened by the instruction. The article ultimately provides a strong argument that literacy programs for offenders take large strides towards rehabilitation by helping offenders with the tools they need to further advance themselves outside of the correctional facility. Gardner, S. (2015, March). Reading Families. Corrections Today, 38-42. This article tries arguing for parental involvement programs within literacy. It looks particularly at program in Baltimore, and it’s successes. It tries showing such literacy programs help calm the offenders and bring out a more caring side within them, allowing them to be loving parents. It argues that the program is stress reliving for children, and builds positive role models for the children. Mostly, the article focuses on the implementation of the program, so similar ideas may be used in setting up literacy programs elsewhere. Haigler, K. O., Harlow, C., O’Connor, P., & Campbell, A. (1994). Literacy behind prison walls. Washington, DC: US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, NCES-1994-102. This book provides an immense and thorough background of information and good framework for looking at the state of illiteracy in relation to prisoners. It provides a large number of helpful statistics of varying literacy levels of prisoners using different scales of measurement, and helps demonstrate the clear link between educational programs, and the inmates litearcy levels. Harer, M. D. (1994). Recidivism among federal prison releasees in 1987: A preliminary report. Federal Bureau of Prisons. Office