Chief Correctional Officers' attitudes about prison education: Impact upon prison education sustainability and recidivism rates

Although research has demonstrated education programs are an effective way of reducing recidivism, little has been done to investigate the role of prison administrators in supporting such programs.;State Chief Correction Officer's (CCO's) from the 50 states and one from the District of Columbia were invited to complete surveys concerning attitudes about the primary role of corrections, program quality as it relates to reducing recidivism, and maintaining prison strategies, and program sustainability.;CCO's responses indicated strong support for the role of rehabilitation as the primary role of prisons. Attitudes about the primary role of corrections were not correlated to measures of program sustainability or recidivism. However, their rating of program quality for religious programs as it maintains inmate strategies was moderately correlated to program sustainability. The study findings are discussed as they relate to previous studies of CCO's attitudes toward prison rehabilitation and prison education programs and the role that other stakeholders play in prison education programming.