Higher education in prison
A comparative policy analysis of five countries
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21324341 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marisa Lally (0000-0002-7713-7676, George Mason University, corresponding author), Patrick Filipe Conway (0000-0002-9460-1960, Boston College) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 91 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1581-1600 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Higher Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-1560 • E-ISSN: 1573-174X |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10734-025-01485-1 |
| OpenAlex | W4412063370 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 51 |
This analysis explores how higher education in prison policies impact educational access for incarcerated populations in five different national contexts: Australia, Nigeria, South Africa, the UK, and the USA. Employing an analytic policy borrowing framework, the study explores how the stated goals of higher education in prison, such as reduced recidivism and savings on public spending, translate into the actual provision of and access to education in carceral contexts. Findings reveal that while the stated purposes of higher education in prison are often consistent across national contexts, differences in funding structures and educational delivery methods significantly impact the contours of access for incarcerated people to higher education opportunities
Comparative education · Criminology · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Education policy · Higher education · Policy analysis · Political science · Prison · Statistics · Trend analysis · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Psychology · Public Administration
The neoliberal turn in Higher Education
Policies for achieving inclusion in higher education
New directions in policy borrowing research
World Yearbook of Education 2012
Discrimination in inmates classification
The problem with flexible learning
College Behind Bars
Examining Teaching for Mastery as an instance of ‘hyperreal’ cross national policy borrowing
Widening access and participation
Campus closures and the devaluing of emplaced Higher Education
“Education as the practice of freedom?” – prison education and the pandemic
The historical development of prisons in South Africa
Beyond Pell restoration
The Origins of Mass Incarceration
Document Analysis as a Qualitative Research Method
There is No Such Thing as Free Higher Education
Talking Past Each Other
Education behind bars and beyond prison
Comparative education, the ‘New Paradigm’ and policy borrowing
Carceral Geographies from Inside Prison Gates
Is There A Universal Right To Higher Education
Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native
Cooperation and education in prison
Políticas de educação nas prisões
Neoliberalism in Higher Education
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |