Literacy training has several specific benefits in the institutional setting. It facilitates offenders' ability to read and understand the institution's rules. The added ability of offenders to engage in leisure time reading may result in their spending more time in library or reading room areas where they present less of a supervision problem. Enhanced literacy training also constitutes a powerful public relations tool with the courts, the public, and offenders themselves. Further, improved literacy levels increase offenders' usefulness in more complex job assignments within the institution. A literacy program must be sold or marketed to offenders, and experience with such programs indicates that certain elements are necessary in an effective program. These elements include adequate space, needs identification, mandatory literacy level requirements, appropriate curriculum materials, adequate staffing, interface with industrial and institutional work assignments, and incentive and recognition programs. Available resources to facilitate literacy training are noted. Appendixes contain suggested tests for literacy diagnosis and evaluation, an annotated bibliography, a description of reading machines, and policy information on offender education and training.