College for Criminals

[defscarlett]

I'm assuming the inmates would have been attending through correspondence; that's why it's cheaper to educate them. It's not like New York isn't already spending millions (maybe billions) subsidizing the educations of New York residents. $1 million for a prison program wouldn't even make a dent in the tuition rates for New York residents. This is where one would do a cost-benefit analysis. How much money can New York save taxpayers by educating and training inmates for jobs and having them be less likely to recidivate because of this? The savings could go to other things such as subsidizing in-state tuition.

I don't think this will do anything to help recidvism rates at all. Have you ever worked with convicted criminals trying to get them a job that paid more than minimum wage? It doesn't matter what education, training or skills these guys have, no one wants the liability of hiring an (ex?)offender.