The participants were inmates in the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow, MA. This correctional center has offered college programming for 6 years. The college education includes both distance learning courses offered by Atlantic Union College of South Lancaster, MA, and onsite courses taught by instructors from Springfield Technical Community College. The college sample had completed at least one 3-credit course, served a sentence of at least 3 months from which they were released between January and October 1993, and were released directly to the community. Results revealed that inmates who completed at least 1 college course while incarcerated at the facility were 21.9 percent less likely to recidivate to the facility 5 years after release than were comparable inmates who did not take college courses. The differences were even more dramatic during the first 3 years following release, when almost two-thirds of the comparison group but under one third of the study group recidivated. The analysis concluded that college programming at the Hampden County Correctional Center appears to be having a positive impact on recidivism. Tables and 4 references