Inmate motivations to participate in prison programs: Are they related to actual participation

Inmate participation in prison programs has been shown to reduce recidivism and improve conditions inside prisons. This study investigates inmate motivations to participate in prison programs and their possible relationship to participatory behavior. Multiple regression analysis was used to test for these relationships. The predictor variables were the four motivating factors (cognitive control, goal orientation, activity orientation and avoidance posture) as measured by the subscale scores of the Revised Prison Education Participation Scale (PEPS). The criterion variable (participatory behavior) was measured as the number of programs inmates have completed in the last three years of incarceration. Results show no significant relationship between motivating factors and programs completed. The majority of participants (87%) ranked items related to goal orientation as having at least some influence on participation. This is consistent with previous literature in this area. Results are limited by the inherent difficulty of completing programs in the correctional setting, which affected the distribution of the criterion variable. The data also suggests that prison program capacity is significantly less that inmate demand for such programs, highlighting the need for more program opportunities.