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Incentive and Penalty in Education

NCJ Number
156197
Journal
Journal of Correctional Education Volume: 46 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1995) Pages: 79-82
Author(s)
M Van Waters
Date Published
1995
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article, originally published in 1938, describes the Reformatory Prison for Women of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at Framingham as a model of correctional education.
Abstract
Schools and prisons produce men and women who characterize society. The experience of education in both agencies has elements in common, but prison presents the sterner realism. Inmates must be graduated with the equipment for economic survival and without incentive to harm others, or they will be returned for another term. Eighty percents of inmates at the Framingham reformatory were sentenced for personal or domestic maladjustment, alcoholism, child abuse, adultery, or desertion of home, while the remainder committed more serious offenses, including theft, arson, armed robbery, and murder. The institution is a self-contained community, where hard labor is used to give meaning to time and provide inmates with a sense of responsibility. There is a program of child care and parent education for mothers, with the ultimate goals of keeping families together. The author recognized the worth of instilling self-esteem in offenders, and the use of penalty and incentive in correctional education. 1 reference