The ideal correctional education system must focus on client behaviors, facilities, climate, staff, finances, hardware/software, and corrections functions, with each of these elements interfacing with the others. The overall goal of correctional education is to provide each client with basic skills of communication and computation, interpersonal skills for healthy social relationships, at least entry-level job skills, and the capability of decisionmaking and goal setting. Ideal facilities should be relatively small and located in the communities of the inmates. The three types of facilities ideally required are (1) community-based centers for nonviolent first offenders who need close supervision, (2) small secure facilities to replace the fortress prison to house inmates who pose a serious threat to society, and (3) community-return centers where inmates from high security facilities would spend the last year of their sentence to prepare for reentering the community. The climate of the facility should provide for inmate self-governance, conflict resolution, legal aid, justice in administration, and the services of an ombudsman. The ideal staff would have not only technical competence but the personality characteristics of empathy, sincerity, openness, objectivity, and flexibility. Based on data from cost analysis, corrections managers must aggressively seek financial support to provide complete programs that will meet planned objectives. The ideal correctional system must also have hardware/software that will deliver knowledge, skills, and attitudes to clients with the greatest cost-effectiveness. The ideal functions of any correctional system are socialization, administration, and custody. These functions should work together to benefit clients in preparing them to function constructively in society. References are provided. For related articles, see NCJ 74750.