# Prisoners should learn to read or lose parole rights **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 19, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506 "2003-09-19T00:13:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/1 "2003-09-19T00:13:35Z")
…or so says [Jeffrey Archer](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/09/18/narch18.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/09/18/ixhome.html): > [@](#): > > Jeffrey Archer’s ability to stir controversy was undiminished last night after he suggested that illiterate prisoners should be denied early release. > > […] > > Archer, 63, maintains that too many prisoners are still illiterate when they leave jail partly because there is a financial disincentive to learning to read. > > While they can get paid £12 a week working as a gardener or potato peeler, those taking up education receive just £4 or £5. Many are unprepared to forego their tobacco or phone cards, so choose the better-paid option. > > “I would offer two suggestions,” says Archer. “Pay those taking up full-time education the same wage as any other prison job; and introduce a 12-week reading and writing course for all illiterate prisoners, which would include a test at the end of the course that the prisoner would have to pass before they could be considered for any other job or, even more draconian, early release.” > > He adds: “This could result in thousands of prisoners returning to society with their minds, rather than just their muscles, expanded as well as the burden and stigma of total illiteracy lifted from them.” Now, while normally I take Jeffrey Archer’s views with a Gibraltar-sized grain of salt, this is a thought-provoking idea. Certainly there are social benefits to encouraging illiterate convicts to learn to read in that it would give them an invaluable job skill when they are released and access to a world of information and options they hadn’t previously had. And while the legality of denying prisoners early release on this basis is dubious, it would certainly provide a powerful incentive. So here’s the topic for debate: should the penal system require a certain level of literacy as a condition of parole? If not, what are the alternatives? (If you can’t access the Telegraph site, try [the Mirror](http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/24by7panews/page.cfm?objectid=13421975&method=full&siteid=50143) instead.) ---
**Author:** ![Muldoon\_s\_Squishiness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Muldoon\_s\_Squishiness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muldoon_s_Squishiness)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/2 "2003-09-19T00:49:08Z")
Considering that Jeffrey Archer is a convicted felon and was found guilty of perjury no less, he has about as much credibility with me as Nixon did, which is to say less then none. Denying a prisoner their parole because they can’t read is insane. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/3 "2003-09-19T01:02:14Z")
Or maybe he’s just trying to expand his target audience. The more readers without much in the way of discriminating taste there are, the more books he sells. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/4 "2003-09-19T01:12:26Z")
I had no idea that illiteracy was such a problem among the lower socio-economic classes in England. I thought literacy was sort of well… _your thing_, even among relatively poor people. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/5 "2003-09-19T01:17:35Z")
Illiteracy is a problem among the lower socio-economic classes _everywhere_, alas. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/6 "2003-09-19T01:45:28Z")
In theory, parole is letting a convict out of prison _while his sentence is still running_, on the grounds that he or she is supposedly rehabilitated enough that they can finish their term on the outside, with supervision. That is why parolees have restricted rights; they’re still convicts, they’re just finishing their sentence under very loose supervision. If someone reads at the second grade level, and had been making their living as a career criminal, I would expect literacy to be a **prerequisite** of parole. Otherwise you’re simply dumping them back onto the street. I could see an exception for people with genuine learning disabilities (dyslexia, etc.), but if someone isn’t willing to learn to read, I wouldn’t bet ten cents on their willingness to go straight and stay out of trouble. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/7 "2003-09-19T03:39:08Z")
Everyone here seems to assume that anybody - except perhaps those with dyslexia - can learn to read if they just try a little harder. There are many, many people out there who are functionally illiterate and who have agonized over trying to read. When my son finished the fourth grade last year he was reading at about a first grade level, and this is after he was held back a year. Don’t tell me he just wasn’t trying hard enough when he would come home on the report card days and cry his cry his eyes out because he “just wasn’t getting it.” Dyslexia wasn’t even recognized as a phenomenon until relatively recently, and it’s a safe bet that there are many other brain disorders that are yet unrecognized. Connecting parole with learning to read is a very bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/8 "2003-09-19T13:22:57Z")
I have to agree with pretty much everything **Lumpy** said. I put it on par with providing some sort of vocational training- lack of legitimate skills are a good means of ensuring a return to the ‘underground economy’. Literacy is the basic means by which social mobility is possible…I don’t think that it’s an extra punishment to link parole to some basic literacy skills. Of course, I would also have to insist on there being learning professionals on hand that have experience/training in dealing with adult education/learning disabilities, or else you are setting the inmates up for failure. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/9 "2003-09-19T13:30:14Z")
I wonder if there is a connection between literacy of parolees and recividism? Seems like a good idea to me, especially if there is a correlation between the two. Any metric that will help determine how likely the criminal is to break the law again can and should be used to make decisions on parole. Not giving them parole isn’t a punishment. It’s simply making them serve the time they were sentanced to. ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/10 "2003-09-19T13:38:07Z")
The first part of his suggestion - to pay those in education the same wage as those in any other job - is a good one though. But no-one should be denyed parole because they’re illiterate. ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/11 "2003-09-19T13:50:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Debaser \* > \*\*Not giving them parole isn’t a punishment. It’s simply making them serve the time they were sentanced to. \*\* That is the most sensible thing I have read today. If recidivism can be related to illiteracy, then refusing parole to illiterate prisoners who refuse to go to class to learn how to read seems like a remarkably sensible idea. Jeffrey Archer thought of that? I am more than stunned. Get him out to Iraq, pdq. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/12 "2003-09-19T14:14:29Z")
If you object to insisting that an inmate learn to read before being considered for parole, make learning to read a plus factor to be considered when the inmate is up for parole. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/13 "2003-09-19T14:33:03Z")
Still, nobody is addressing those poor slobs that are incapable of learning to read. There are a lot of folks out there who just can’t do it for reasons we just don’t understand at this point in time. For them you are setting an impossible goal. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/14 "2003-09-19T14:34:47Z")
Parole boards are slowly being phased out in some states. Many convictions now come with “flat time.” My husband, who works in corrections, says that this is a problem in the institutions. It used to be that inmates who had parole possibilities would behave themselves, and join programs such as anger management, trying to make themselves as attractive as possible for the parole board. With “flat time” the inmate can pretty much behave as he wishes without fearing his release date will be pushed back. There’s no incentive to join programs or get an education when they’re going to be released on a certain date, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/15 "2003-09-19T14:47:42Z")
I don’t think that anyone would disagree that education is not a very good thing and the more you get inside the better you’ll be off outside. So I’m agreement with Lord\* Archer thus far. But denying parole on it? I don’t think so. Not for much longer. Also note I use the term dripping with sarcasm. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/16 "2003-09-19T15:11:46Z")
Even if they become literate and educated you have to take into account that a parolee will probably have trouble finding a job. There was someone on SD a month or so ago who was 31 who almost got fired because he was convicted of a non-violent property crime at 19. Somoene convicted of a violent crime would have it 2x as bad. I’ve read about the recidivism rate from various books (cant remember the titles offhand) and the best way to ensure a straight life on the outside is vocational training in prison. SSRIs are good too (one said that there was close to an 0.8 correlation between low serotonin levels and recidivism), and so is marriage. However, assuming a prisoner learns to read or obtains vocational training it will still be hard for him to find & keep a job. many places will not hire an ex-felon. So we are in our own way encouraging ex-felons to return to crime by trying to deny them the ability to find a living wage. ---
**Author:** ![TVAA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TVAA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVAA)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/17 "2003-09-19T15:56:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wesley Clark \* > \*\*SSRIs are good too (one said that there was close to an 0.8 correlation between low serotonin levels and recidivism) \*\* Objection! Calls for speculation as to causation! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/18 "2003-09-19T16:22:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muldoon’s Squishiness \* > **Considering that Jeffrey Archer is a convicted felon and was found guilty of perjury no less** Yes, but he can read. It’s actually not a bad idea, though. In this day and age, literacy has become pretty much neccesary, and if some one can’t read when he goes into prison, it’s probably better for both him and society if he learns before he gets out. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/19 "2003-09-19T18:38:20Z")
How does it work across the pond? Do they not have something like a parole board that grants parole on a case-by-case basis using factors such as literacy, family support, etc. in the parole review? Anyway, I don’t think parole is a right in the US, I think it’s something that may be granted to certain individuals. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506/20 "2003-09-20T01:06:42Z")
As a physician in a max-security prison, I must say that some of the inmates are so damaged (neurologically and psychologically) that I doubt they’ll ever be able to learn to read, no matter how earnest their desire or how capable the teachers. I’m not talking dyslexia, I’m talking psychomotor retardation and lack of neuronal development in the first place from utterly barren home environments during the early years. I’d also want to see statistics that show giving literacy to the non-literate prisoner reduces recidivism. Thrown another arbitrary hurdle (in the form of a new rehab criteria) at our struggling prison system and you will drive costs up, frustrate staff and inmates, and add to the bureaucracy. So before we do this, we’d better make **damn sure** it really makes a difference. I’ve seen too many “great ideas” implemented by the politicians which did nothing but cost money and frustrate staff without serving to improve the inmates’ chances. It’s all pretty moot in the US anyway. With “Truth in sentencing” laws, they serve the time they’re given at the time of sentencing. No parole, no reductions for “good time”, no compassionate release. QtM, treating some real wretched refuse who can’t even recognize what it is they yearn for. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prisoners-should-learn-to-read-or-lose-parole-rights/202506.md?page=2)