Thirty-seven of the 50 states do not require mandatory education in their correctional institutions. Eleven of the states with mandatory education programs require all inmates to attend who do not meet specified educational criteria. A reduction of sentence is used as an incentive by states to encourage inmates to attend the mandatory programs. For inmates who fail to attend the mandatory programs, the regular disciplinary process for misconduct is used as a sanction. The main criteria used by states to evaluate the effectiveness of their programs is whether the inmates remain in the education programs after the mandatory period. Based on the survey results, the American Bar Association has data that will prove helpful in developing model legislation for a mandatory literacy act. 3 graphs, 4 tables, and 2 appendixes