post-secondary education: a bridge out of criminality
abstract
this project portfolio provides a proposed educational program for women transitioning out of
criminality. by providing criminalized women with access to post-secondary education, this
program seeks to remedy the injustice that has been served to many women who were
marginalized and victimized before being criminalized for their crimes of survival. the program
is based on the premise that recidivism rates are reduced when criminalized women are provided
with post-secondary education that in turn leads to secure employment that provides a living
wage. this portfolio includes a literature review that explores correctional education in canada
and how it serves, or fails to serve, female inmates. the literature review seeks to describe the
“typical” female inmate and her needs, the reasons why governments provide inmates with
education, the reasons why inmates participate in education while incarcerated, and the type of
educational programming that is available to female inmates in canadian prisons. in addition,
this portfolio contains a website that delves deeper into issues of gender in the criminal justice
system and concludes with a video describing my research and proposed program. the program
proposal contained in this portfolio includes a general education (gned) roadmap that
demonstrates the efficacy of a program based on gned courses and includes a sample lesson
and a culminating assignment.