Challenges Hindering Rendering of Formal Education Programs at Correctional Centers in South Africa

Abstract

The chapter focuses on a study that was conducted in the Eastern Cape’s Mthatha Management Area within a correctional service setting in South Africa. The chapter addresses challenges such as high dropout rates amongst offender learners, low engagement in education and training programs, and diminished motivation amongst prison educators. Utilizing a qualitative research approach and drawing on the behaviorist theory, the study involved six correctional service educators, eight learners, six security officials, and four managers from four centers. Findings highlighted an unfavorable teaching and learning environment marked by lack of classrooms, shortage of educators, insufficient training, and limited support from management. Furthermore, the government has not rectified the imbalances of the past by rebuilding prisons to accommodate rehabilitative needs and has increased the challenges experienced by prison educators. It was also found that the perception of unprofessional correctional services staff toward offenders’ education was cited as one of the main contributors toward a negative educational environment. The study recommends the need for improved educational conditions, recognition of offenders’ education as a human right, and increased recruitment and training of educators to enhance rehabilitation efforts and reduce recidivism.

1. Introduction

Education in South Africa, as stipulated in the Constitution of the country, Section 29 (1) of the Bill of Rights, is a right and not a privilege (Constitution of South Africa, 1996). The right to education must also be enjoyed by offenders as part of the rehabilitation process. In terms of the Constitution of South Africa (Republic of South Africa, 1996), this right is for all citizens, regardless of their circumstances. The Government of South Africa has, since 1996, formulated pieces of legislation and policy frameworks regarding correctional service programmes for the welfare of prisoners, including their right to education. “Formal Education and skills development in correctional services environment not only responds to rehabilitation needs of inmates but also fundamentally transforms our society by advancing the developmental needs of the country” (Department of Correctional Services Vote No 1 of 2018). For this reason, education opportunities are made available to people who are incarcerated. However, offenders, as citizens, have choices while in correctional centers (and after their sentences) to choose whether they engage in educational programmes or not. Supporting this, Mukeredzi [1] states that education plays a major role in reducing violence leading to a safer environment and serves as a motivation for offenders to engage in the program.

The Mthatha Management Area, as demarcated by the Department of Correctional Services, has 13 correctional centers formally known as prisons. As the department’s legal obligation in terms of The Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998, such centers have a responsibility to ensure that, included in the rehabilitation programmes they have to offer, education must form part of the offender’s development programmes. Due to personnel and infrastructural challenges in the Mthatha Management Area in the Eastern Cape region, only six centers seem to provide formal education programmes in the form of Adult Education and Training on a full-time basis as well as higher education and training programs on a part-time basis. In all such centers, there are only seven full-time educators employed by the department to fully facilitate such programmes in the whole Mthatha Management Area. Ironically, even though the programmes have to be fully conducted and effectively monitored, it appears that not a single formal school can be referred to as a school in terms of meeting basic requirements such as conducive infrastructure with a favorable learning and teaching environment, suitable staff members, as well as library facilities to equip both learners and educators in conducting the necessary research. This means offenders cannot be rehabilitated if the provision of formal education is neither satisfactory nor intensified.

Prison education involvement is still voluntary for inmates; they learn as such because such opportunities are made available or just to relieve boredom. These are two of the reasons why they choose to enroll for studies, while other offenders may choose not to engage in any educational activities.

Against the background alluded to above, it can be concluded that formal education programmes do not always get the attention they deserve. The belief that education through learning has the potential to change the behavioral patterns of offenders is confirmed. Onyekachi [2] in Nigeria found that inmates who participated in college programmes received fewer “tickets” for rule violation than those who were engaged in other programmes. In the South African context, this means that such offenders are likely to appear fewer times before a disciplinary committee than those who are nonattenders of the education programmes and thus stand a good chance of receiving a positive report for consideration for parole. The study aimed to investigate the challenges that hinder the smooth running of education and training programs in four correctional centers of South Africa through investigating what can be done to promote the effective rendering of formal education and training programmes in the Mthatha Management Area, to determine challenges faced by prison educators in their effort to render effective and efficient education programmes for prisoners.

The next section, the background of the study, concentrated and dissected the service gaps that the Department of Correctional Services fails to close in the form of being unable to introduce, nurture, and monitor programs that seek to rehabilitate offenders holistically and play its share in the national struggle of eradicating illiteracy and skilling to the South African citizens for self-dependency and life-long learning. Additionally, the following section will also undertake to explore the perception of prison challenges from the international, African, and South African spheres.

2. Background

The inability of the Department of Correctional Services to provide total rehabilitation for reprobates seems to undermine the work of ensuring that inmates leave prisons fully equipped to contribute to the economic development of the country.

Rehabilitation of offenders is an internationally discussed phenomenon; worldwide, there is great concern about an overwhelming rate of offender recidivism [3]. The term “rehabilitation” is derived from the Latin word “rehabilitare” meaning re-enable or “making again.” On the other hand, recidivism refers to reoffending and turning back of an offender after release whether it is for the same crime or not. The rehabilitation process is composed of regulated interventions inclusive of correctional, therapeutic, and developmental programmes that are aimed at addressing the offending behavior of an individual inmate or offender. It appears that these processes are often not carried out as stipulated in the policy as the provision of quality formal education programmes is not being implemented, thus resulting in excessive recidivism. This chapter will therefore focus on developmental interventions specifically on educational matters.

2.1 The overview of the international correctional education system

In view of the studies in the international sphere, rendering effective educational programmes is still a challenge in Europe due to a number of reasons such as lack of commitment from top management, unprofessional personnel, lack of resources, and lack of funding for the smooth running of such programmes [4]. However, despite this, many offenders that are engaged in European education programmes are believed to be displaying acceptable conduct in correctional facilities and are unlikely to reoffend after release [4].

In New York, seven in ten persons incarcerated and not engaged in education and training programmes commit a crime in a period of three years after release, and half of them return to prisons while the rate of recidivism for general education diploma (GED) completers was 20% lower than general prisoners [5]. The former statement seems to strengthen the belief that education is an effective tool through which reoffending can be diminished. For example, the American Correctional Association found that, in Indiana, the recidivism for GED completers was 20% lower than general illiterate offenders or nonattenders of educational programmes [6]. These claims therefore confirm that when all factors that hinder the effective rendering of formal education programs are identified and addressed, offenders’ behavior and cognitive thinking might be improved, thus recidivism may decrease, community safety was improved, overcrowding in prisons decreased, and, most importantly, tax payers’ money that is spent on all prisons may be saved. In short, the higher the qualification, the lower the recidivism; hence, education seems to improve cognitive skills and reduce violence [6].

European countries have made some strides in paving the way for the smooth running of education programs in correctional centers. Even though an alarming rate of functional illiteracy was recorded in the sense that, out of 640,000 prisoners, only 3–5% qualify for higher education, and appreciable interventions that yielded good results have been conducted and yielded success; low levels of qualification have important negative effects on prisoners’ employability prospects upon release, and this was found to be one of the key factors influencing reoffending [4]. In this regard, we feel that the participation of offenders in education and training programs in large numbers has the potential to reduce reoffending. The European Education System provides support for the development of innovative experiences for adult learners [4]. Europe has a clear commitment to ensure that all its citizens have the key competencies they need to acquire employment and social inclusion. Emphasis is being put on traditional subjects such as mother tongue, foreign languages, and mathematics, science and digital competencies. The Strategic Framework for European Co-operation in Education and Training [7] was adopted in 2011 to mostly benefit prisons. Its key performance areas are as follows:

1. Making life-long learning a reality

2. Improving the quality and efficiency of adult education and training

3. Promoting equity

4. Enhancing innovation and creativity of adults

Cohen [8] concurs when saying that men display a more negative educational attachment than females generally. The above-mentioned authors further cite a study carried out in Australian and Irish prisons in 2015 which suggested that there is an immense need for training prison educators to advance competencies so as to operate in a very unique prison environment that demands the application of methodological approaches that suit masculine concerns. It can therefore be concluded that qualified human resources is the key to the provision of quality formal education in prisons.

Offenders often seem to lack interest in school activities for a number of reasons; for instance, they are recruited to education programs without addressing the underlying personal interests or individual circumstances and challenges due to poor orientation on admission. Such circumstances include frustration, especially with first-time offenders, misery, sadness, hopelessness, and denial. Such personal and intrinsic challenges result in the lack of interest in programs. According to a journal article on prison education, masculinity in prisons authored by Cohen [8], when an individual in the United States commits a crime, often, there are rehabilitation programs that help the offender to address core issues such as rage, sadness, anguish, and misery that led him to commit the crime initially.

2.2 Challenges faced by the African correctional education and training domain

The effective implementation of formal education programs in correctional units has also challenged African countries to the extent that, to date, no country has mastered the smooth running of such a program, and, as a result, the number of recidivists simply increases.

Nigerian prisons have their fair share of challenges pertaining to the effective implementation of education programs in correctional units. According to Onyekachi [2], Nigeria is governed through military-based principles, and as such, effective rendering of rehabilitation programs in prisons has been hampered severely. It was confirmed through the study carried out in Nigeria that, 60% of offenders have become recidivists, and that has exposed the ineffectiveness of program rendering. In response to this, the Apapa (Kirikiri) prison in Nigeria introduced rehabilitation of offenders through education. The program, however, suffered because of government and community perception that the state’s money was being wasted on idle law-breakers until literacy and numeracy classes were introduced followed by the higher education and training stream. Nigeria is amongst the first African countries to introduce rehabilitation in prison and to acknowledge that education should play a pivotal role in rehabilitation and fighting recidivism.

Different authors have shared contrasting information in this regard, for instance, skeptics of e-learning educational systems have argued that prison education, in most cases, has produced nothing but better-educated and more-sophisticated criminals [9]. They also believe that exposing prisoners to a technological form of learning and having the opportunity to learn and access the internet at their own convenience and all by themselves will enhance their criminal minds and aid them in committing sophisticated crimes using state funds and resources against the state. In this case, it appears to apply to Nigeria.

In contrast, Billianin [10] reveals that evidence abounds in the literature showing that prison education has helped many prison inmates to be fully reformed and gainfully employed so as to stay out of jail and away from the life of crime. This has contributed immensely to a reduction in recidivism in Nigeria and helped the society and former criminals to move forward.

Mutemu [11] reports that Kenya has 107 prisons and one youth center, all governed under The Kenyan Prison Act, CAP, 90 and Borstal Act 92 as well as the Community Services Order (CSO). Similar challenges such as those in other African countries are experienced in Kenya. Studies conducted by the School of Business at the University of Nairobi in 2017 showed that indeed the implementation of education programs was ineffective when the following conditions prevailed:

• Lack of commitment from top management

• Unprofessional personnel

• Lack of resources and

• Lack of funding

Zimbabwe is also believed to be experiencing a number of challenges pertaining to prison education. The Internal Journal of Innovative Research and Development released in 2014 in Zimbabwe revealed that the Ouagadougou Declaration on the acceleration of Prison and Penal reforms in Africa held in 2002 formed the basis of Zimbabwean prisons’ improvement [12]. The declaration outlined the following aspects:

• Reducing the prison population

• Making African prisons more self-sufficient

• Promoting the reintegration of offenders into society

Rupande and Ndoro [12] further states that the conference advocated for the adoption of rehabilitation programs in African prisons. The idea behind this was to cultivate and adopt the United Nations Charter on the basic rights of prisoners. Studies conducted at Marondera prison in 2014 revealed that facilitating formal education programs in prison experienced the following challenges:

• Government legislations were not adhered to by the prison department

• Participation in programs was not compulsory

• Lack of training of human resources was evident

• The use of ineffective treatment modalities failed to challenge the offending mentality of prisoners

• There was a failure to develop and utilize well-designed manuals

Due to the above-mentioned performance gaps, as revealed by the study conducted, an alarming lack of interest in offenders in education programs in Marondera prison (Zimbabwe) was noticed [2].

Results of interviews conducted with offenders and officials show that 100% of prisoners’ responses indicated their perception of rehabilitation as being a failure. In response to research conducted as to why education received very little attention at the prison, findings revealed that there was an immense lack of commitment from the top management. Research also revealed that there was a lack of funding for the program, poor organizational structures, and lack of training for educators [13].

2.3 A synopsis of the correctional education system in South Africa

All offenders in four correctional centers that participated in the study are males with a high rate of illiteracy. This seemingly indicates that men are reluctant to engage in educational programs generally and end up on the wrong side of the law. In the context of the South African correctional services environment, similar challenges such as those in the international and continental sphere are experienced with variations across regions or provinces. This is due to South Africa’s history that has experienced a range of imbalances of the past such as political, social, and economic disproportions that have not been addressed to date. The National Development Plan 2030 [14] reported that South Africa loses half of every cohort of learners that enters the school system by the end of the 12-year schooling period, wasting significant human potential and harming the life chances of many young people. It is the plight of these young people who leave school with a bleak future who frequently end up in jail for lack of better services and provision.

There are 236 adult correctional centers, including 9 female centers and 14 youth correctional centers in South Africa. The country is divided into six regions which are subdivided into management areas. Coming closer to the area of study, the Eastern Cape is divided into six management areas with 45 correctional centers.

The Mthatha Management Area is located in the former Transkei region where the rate of illiteracy is very high due to social, cultural, and economic challenges. The rate of illiteracy is determined by the South African National Qualification Framework (NQF), South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), which is defined as any person who has not obtained an educational qualification of at least grade nine or Adult Education and Training (AET) level four as being illiterate [15]. All 13 centers in this management area incarcerate male offenders of various categories such as juveniles, youth, adults, and the aged. There are no female centers as all females in the whole of the Eastern Cape are housed at the East London Medium C Correctional Centre due to fewer numbers in incarceration facilities. This indicates that men are more involved in criminal activities, are convicted, and then incarcerated. Most men in these centers are believed to be illiterate, and as such, there is an evident relationship between illiteracy and crime; the former contributes to a lack of interest in education programs, thereby exacerbating factors hindering the effective provision of such services. Studies reported in the Journal on Prison Education which may well apply in South Africa have revealed that indeed men are more violent, commit more crimes, and are more involved in criminal justice activities. In this regard, Cohen [8] reports that statistics reveal an overwhelming disproportionally higher number of men in prisons in the sense that, in 2015, the Irish Prisons Annual Report indicated that 115 females were imprisoned out of a total of 3150 prisoners, while there were 95 females as against 3077 male prisoners in 2016. The above-mentioned authors further conclude that reasons for the alarming crime statistics are illiteracy resulting from the poor educational attachment that occurred during early childhood development and thus resulting in poor engagement in early childhood education.

In this context, we intend to put forward the argument that poor engagement of offenders in formal education programs, as one of the challenges, could be addressed if educators at correctional facilities were effectively and intensively trained on relevant methodological approaches to address some of these, particularly regarding men. This is due to the fact that the prison environment is unique, and as such, educators have a huge responsibility when they occupy a special position of influence fraught with difficulties yet pregnant with potential to change the offending and negative educational attachment mentality. In the simplest terms, these educators are charged with the responsibility of presenting education in such a way that offenders perceive schooling or educational units as the best alternative to redress negative masculinity traits and self-esteem gaps. Educators occupy the smallest portion of prison staff, and as such, they struggle to positively sway the perception of security officials toward the provision of formal education programs to offenders.

3. Literature review

3.1 Challenges faced by prison educators

The Department of Correctional Services has a unique setting that is composed of various disciplines with conflicting priorities and ideologies. Such disciplines include the following:

• Security that deals with the incarceration and keeping of safe custody

• Facilities that deal with improving and establishing physical structures

• Development that focuses on developmental matters such as skills, education, and physical recreation

• Care that focuses more on therapeutic programs as well as

• Reintegration focusing on preparing the offender for the outside world upon release

Educators often lack the necessary skills to identify educational gaps that determine learners’ perspectives of education. In support of this, Cohen [8] maintains that educators need to have advanced competencies to operate in prison environments. The above-mentioned authors further argue that educators occupy a unique and tantalizing position of influence with potential. Therefore, it seems evident that a methodological approach is needed to address these phenomena. In the same vein, Mezirows [16] suggests that a transformative teaching methodology should be applied to liberate thinking through means of addressing limitations and misrepresentations that exist as frames of belief. Educators are “suffocated” between security-conscious custodial officials and mentally, spiritually, and emotionally bruised and sometimes morose offenders. Educators’ training needs receive no attention in this area; for instance, from 2004 to date, no educator seems to have been trained as an assessor or moderator, despite the submission of training needs annually, while custodial officials are trained frequently on various courses to improve their competencies at the Mthatha Management Area.

It is believed that the rehabilitation of offenders demands greater professionalism in both custodial officials’ and educators’ work so as to understand each other on a professional level. Studies carried out in Kenya by Onyekachi [2] revealed that Apapa as known as ‘Kiriki’ prison experienced similar challenges to those in South Africa. Such problems emanate from the lack of professionalism. In this regard, it seems evident that rehabilitation of offenders by means of programs is a collective responsibility that demands that every participant makes him/herself available in a manner that ensures easy access to programs for the target group.

3.2 Resources

The literature reviewed revealed that the absence of equitable resources in correctional facilities presents added weight to challenges that hinder the smooth running of education and training programs offered to offenders. The usage of cells as classes diminishes chances and efforts to create a conducive teaching and learning atmosphere. Sharing the same sentiments, Hawley [4] purport that prisoners face a range of barriers to accessing learning, both institutional (i.e., associated with their imprisonment p. 149) and dispositional (i.e., linked to their personal circumstances p. 150). Furthermore, in the context of many European countries, a number of factors constrain the extent to which education and training can be offered and the range of provisions which can be made available. In the South African context, educators are obliged to buy themselves laptops to be able to perform administrative duties; otherwise, they find themselves in long queues wanting to type necessary school work.

3.3 Poor support by the authorities

Generally, the Department of Correctional Services falls under a security cluster based on the manner of its operations and legal obligations regarding the safety of the public, officials, and those in its custody. This has undermined the rendering of effective educational programs. Amongst its financial programs, that is, administration, incarceration, rehabilitation, facilities, and reintegration and rehabilitation (where education is embedded), the latter seems to be blurred by all other programs, and as such, little or no support is received from managers in an endeavor to improve the effective rendering of education and training programs. Prison education is not a “family member” of the correctional program or institution: there is often an “ongoing war between the keepers and the kept.” This translates into little support for the transformative capability and personal development contributions of correctional education programming [17] as already stated.

3.4 Offenders’ participation in education programs

Offenders are characterized as persons who have displayed offending behavior that needs to be addressed by means of rehabilitation interventions, so engagement in education and training resides at the top of the hierarchy. The credibility of such an intervention is supported by a number of theorists. For instance, Ormrod [18] advocates that learning results in a change in mental association. Additionally, conducted studies reveal that some men are characterized by poor educational attachment due to bad schooling experiences while they were in the lower grades [19]. Negative feelings may have been influenced by their masculinity and contributed to the manner in which they perceive education, schooling, teaching methodologies, and curricular activities. Cohen [19] seem to concur that men are more likely to display a negative educational attachment than females generally [20]. The above-mentioned authors further cite a study carried out in Australian and Irish prisons in 2015 which suggest that there is an immense need for training prison educators in order to advance competencies so as to operate in a very unique prison environment that demands the application of methodological approaches that suit the mainly masculine concerns.

3.5 Poor orientation of offenders on admission from court to correctional centers

Offenders lack interest in school activities due to a number of reasons: for instance, they are recruited to education programs without addressing the underlying personal or individual circumstances and challenges due to poor orientation on admission. Such circumstances include frustration, especially felt by first-time offenders, misery, sadness, hopelessness, and denial. These personal and intrinsic challenges may result in a lack of interest in programs. Van Gundy [21] states that, in America, offenders generally do not receive an orientation that could help them to understand their rehabilitation path from admission to correction centers and that seems to delay their taking steps toward voluntary engagement in rehabilitation programs such as education. This may give rise to poor and even nonattendance of educational programs by offenders. When making a comparison between African countries and others, the latter seem to have made appreciable strides to improve the manner in which education and training of offenders matters are dealt with through engaging educators in training to fit into the Department of Correctional Services’ environment as well as orientating offenders on admission before engaging them in educational programs, South Africa seems to be trailing far behind with reference to these issues; they seem to be in dire need of training and engagement in assessments and orientation of offenders on admission into the facilities.

3.6 Poor structuring of the daily structured program

Due to socio-economic challenges that offenders face such as lack of family support, they tend to compromise their schooling time for other materially benefiting programs; offenders are believed to prefer work teams to education programs due to incentives that go along with performing work. This is a great challenge, especially in the South African prison context where in terms of the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998 engagement in education programs is voluntary and not rewarded. When making a comparison with developed countries, best practices have to be emulated in the sense that, in California, strides have been made by developing a plan for incentives for inmates participating in education programs [21]. Moreover, all offenders are obliged to at least complete the high school diploma, which is the general education diploma (GED) in these countries.

3.7 Lack of support from the department

The Department of Correctional Services based on The White Paper on Corrections (2005) enshrines the fact that the rehabilitation of offenders is a collective responsibility, thereby emphasizing the interwovenness of its interventions to produce law-abiding citizens who make positive and effective contributors to the economic activities of the country. Such an obligation deems it necessary for the department to take giant steps toward establishing a conducive environment for the effective rendering of programs. An unendurable shortage of educators is prevalent in some centers, and there are no educators employed directly by the Department of Correctional Services. Moreover, there are no resources such as classrooms, and consequently, dining halls and open courtyards are used as teaching venues. Such venues expose both learners and educators to extreme weather conditions and or disturbances due to other daily operations in these venues. The Department of Correctional Services has certainly not performed well in providing equitable resources in an endeavor to demonstrate its willingness to support the rendering of educational programs at the correctional centers in the Mthatha Management Area as mentioned earlier.

3.8 Lack of support by the Department of Correctional Services’ superiors and stake holders

As alluded to, the Department of Correctional Services has a legal obligation to train, equip, develop, and rehabilitate offenders in order to close the skills gap that exists in South Africa and to create a conducive environment for the rehabilitation of offenders to ensure safety by rooting out a criminal mentality that characterizes many South Africans (Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998). Aliyu et al. [22] define prison education as an aspect of lifelong learning in which every adult, whether free or restricted, should be entitled to. They believe that education in prison is necessary because its provision will allow the prisons to become places of continuous and informal learning rather than schools of crime. Such a claim supports the view that when perceptions of all affected stakeholders are positively redirected, the smooth rendering of education and training programs in prisons can be achieved. Billianin [10] states that skeptics of e-learning education systems have argued that prison education, in most cases, has produced nothing but better-educated and more-sophisticated criminals. Such stereotyping seems to have prevailed throughout the correctional system as most officials are reluctant to motivate offenders to engage in such programs. This confirms the importance of asking a subresearch question (ii): to what extent do offenders become demotivated by custodial staff when attempting to participate in formal education and training programs?

3.9 Excessive focus put on security

All centers visited to conduct this study seemed to be characterized by a severe lack of support from superiors. Security remains central in all correctional centers, and as such, it is difficult for external service providers to extend services to correctional centers. In addition, there are no innovative projects that endeavor to improve the situation in prisons and to uplift those incarcerated. The Correctional Services Act, as indicated earlier, does not define the word “educator” in its definition of terms and indicates the position of educators in the agenda of the Department of Correctional Services.

3.10 Lack of monitoring and authenticity of the offenders’ sentence plans

In the current approach, the unit management is meant to initiate the Offenders’ Rehabilitation Path (ORP) which should be executed. It, in turn, should guide and regulate how each offender should be engaged from admission to release, but offenders seem to have been failed by managers due to their lack of comprehension of the correctional and rehabilitative content of this path. South Africa seems to lag far behind with reference to positive and progressive interventions to eradicate, or at least minimize, hindrances to the effective rendering of education programs for offenders. For instance, most African countries subscribed to the Ouagadougou Declaration on the acceleration of prisons’ reform in 2002 which focused on improving rehabilitation programs for offenders in Africa [23]. Such a declaration paved the way for many African countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe to work toward accelerating the development of offenders through education. However, as revealed by McLean [23], there is also a primary need to work on offender discipline and respect for prison educators. Various interventions such as Technical, Vocation Education and Training (TVET) and European Credited, Vocational studies have resulted from that declaration as positive strides toward improvement of the manner in which the rendering of effective educational programs can be rendered in prisons.

Msoroka [24] states that the Tanzanian government has engaged in a crucial commitment in an attempt to augment positive strides toward shifting to the development of the education system that will benefit prisoners too. Tanzanian Vision 2025 was a development plan inaugurated in 2000. The purpose was to ensure that Tanzania moved from one of the least-developed countries to a middle-income country by the year 2025. He further argues that, with Vision 2025, it is planned that, by 2025, the country will have “a well-educated and learning society” [25]. It can be argued that developing a learning society can be best achieved if the community has developed a lifelong learning attitude. This is due to the belief that it is lifelong learning that can maximize the chances of the members of society to improve their ability to take up available developmental opportunities [25]. Such an initiative does not exclude prison education as it can be professionalized. Vision 2025 therefore requires people to have a developmental mindset. According to this initiative, education should be treated as a strategic agent for ‘mindset transformation’ and for the creation of a well-educated nation, sufficiently equipped with the knowledge needed to competently and competitively solve the development challenges which face the nation [25]. Furthermore, lifelong learning is an essential principle for education and training systems so as to build a ‘knowledge society’ [26]. Scholars have used different phrases to define lifelong learning. However, they all agree that lifelong learning is an act of learning throughout one’s life—from the cradle to the grave—regardless of the period of life, space, gender, or status [26, 27, 28, 29]. At the same time, Tanzania has also demonstrated a willingness to improve rison education even though the practicality, execution, and realization of such seemingly awesome plans may fail if they do not receive the necessary support and monitoring by those in the higher ranks of the developmental hierarchy.

Developed countries have made positive strides to ensure that education in prisons is improved. A good example is the European Project that established prison education. Such a project ensures the accreditation of prior knowledge, an improved prison environment and the introduction of vocational training for offenders [4]. In this regard, it is safe to suggest that best practices elsewhere should be emulated where reform is lacking.

A project referred to as the Partnership in Prison Education Learning Network (PIPELINE) adds value to a series of attempts to improve prisoner education which started in New York, Brazil, and Trinidad. Such a project ensures the provision of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to both learners and educators in correctional centers. This could make a huge difference in the South African context where educators do not have computers in their offices and are obliged to queue for a space in other offices just to type school work. Offenders who want further studies have to provide their own computers and experience difficulties in their applications to possess laptops.

4. Methodology

Previously, in Chapter 2, we presented an overview of the literature that alluded to how the international sphere, Africa and the South African domain, share common challenges with reference to the attempts made toward the effective rendering of education and training programs in the correctional services setting. This section is structured to create a pathway to respond to the main research question: “Investigating challenges that hinder the smooth running of education and training programs in four correctional centres of South Africa.”

4.1 Research study design

The study adopted a case study design based on its link with the behaviorist theory in the sense that they both explore human behavior, beliefs, experiences, and reactions. A case study is used to describe an entity that forms a single unit such as a person, an organization, or an institution [30]. Case study research allows for the exploration and understanding of complex issues. It can be considered a robust research method particularly when a holistic, in-depth investigation is required [31]. A case study is an appropriate design when you want to gain concrete, contextual, in-depth knowledge about a specific real-world subject [32]. All the above-cited authors share similar sentiments, especially with reference to seeking in-depth and insight into complex issues as such, the adoption of the case study seemed very relevant for this study.

4.2 Research approach

Qualitative research is characterized by its aims, which relate to understanding some aspects of social life, and its methods which, in general, generate words rather than numbers as data analysis [33]. A qualitative approach strives to penetrate and understand the significance that the researcher ascribes to the topic being researched [34]. Bianco and Corr [35] assert that qualitative research is conducted in an attempt to understand experiences and attitudes of people in contextually bound settings. This made this method relevant in a correctional services setting where the target group is fixed in a particular setting. In concurrence with them, the study adopted a qualitative approach to generate ideas and experiences that were of great importance to this research. The qualitative approach adopted was deemed relevant based on its ability to answer questions, ascertain what the problem is, why things are the way they are, and how people are affected and perceive the manner in which things are. This approach seemed to encourage free expression by participants as questions were not worded in the same way for each participant [36].

4.3 Sampling

Purposive sampling technique was chosen for the identification and selection of information-rich cases for the most effective use of limited resources. This involves identifying and selecting individuals or groups of individuals who are especially knowledgeable about or have experience of a phenomenon of interest [37]. Data gathering is crucial in research, as the data are meant to contribute to a better understanding of a theoretical framework. It then becomes imperious that selecting the manner of obtaining data and from whom the data will be acquired can be done with sound judgment, as no amount of analysis can make up for improperly collected data [38]. The researchers therefore selected a variety of offender learners, prison educators, custodial officials, and managers.

For this study, using the purposive sampling technique meant selecting six educators, six custodial officials, four managers, and eight learner offenders from four correctional centers. Participants were chosen because of their shared experiences of the problem under study. Educators had mixed experience in the sense that there were those who were working in the Department of Correctional Services for more than 10 years and there were those who recently came from the Department of Education as well as those who graduated and joined the Department after graduating. Offenders represented different categories such as the youth and adult categories. These same groups of offenders were subdivided into the total illiterates, (AET level 1) and functional literates (AET level 4/GETC/Grade 9 and HET), respectively. This was an endeavor to cater for all possible categories for the sake of the credibility of the results. Custodial officials also participated in the activity as they form an integral part of the department and are also stakeholders.

4.4 Data collection tools and procedure

Various data collection procedures were used. These included interviews with structured and unstructured, open-ended questions and observations to gather as much information as possible. Conference rooms readily available away from cells were utilized in this regard. Based on the fact that correctional officials may provide defensive responses during interviews, we utilized observations to ensure credibility, dependability, and transferability of the data received, and interview questions were structured in such a way that findings would be reliable and valid. Transparency prevailed at the center in that findings were not manipulated in any way. Due to the scattered research sites (correctional centers) that occupy a radius of about 442 km, Mthatha Medium correctional and Ngqeleni correctional centers were visited once.

4.4.1 Interviews

It was relevant to utilize interviews, semi-structured and unstructured. These provided a spectrum of avenues in order to gain further information. Semi-structured questions give the interviewer an opportunity to have full interaction with interviewees through probing, with follow-up questions when short and insufficient responses are given. The interviewees can then be given leads when they seem to need clarity with some questions. Offenders were selected for interviews because of their enthusiasm and usual willingness to partake in program-related activities. Custodial officials were engaged in interviews as the first attempt to get their perceptions about the problem at hand. In addition, managers were interviewed. We ensured that participants were comfortable and had opportunities for clarifications before responding to questions. Gaurav [39] supports the idea of using interviews and asserts that the presence of an interviewer can give the participants additional comfort while answering the questions to ensure correct interpretation of the questions.

4.4.2 Observations

Observations through field notes were recorded immediately after the events in order to represent a true reflection of what was discovered. Observations were used by custodial officials and managers in order to glean information that would result in informed findings. This proved to be effective as, indeed, observation results at times differed from interview results. Certain responses from interviews were simply too good to be true. A free, uncontrolled, unbiased, and uninterrupted expression of perceptions toward educational programs for offenders was deemed necessary. In addition, observations were employed for all samples so as to be able to close the information gaps that seemed to exist. An observation checklist was used in this regard to check the credibility of data obtained from both managers and custodial officials.

4.5 Pilot study

A pilot study was carried out on selected three centers that did not take part in the actual study. Such centers were selected from the same management area as that of the study and which had been rendering education and training programs to offenders in the past. The pilot study was carried out to determine whether the planned recruitment approach would generate participants or motivate volunteers to participate. It was also carried out to test tools for collecting data that elicited the relevant responses. Additionally, the exercise was done to evaluate our personal skills and abilities so as to critically identify the areas of improvement before carrying out the actual research.

The pilot study was useful in the preparation for the actual study because it offered signals regarding the suitability of the methods and instruments to be used in the final study. In other words, it was beneficial in grounding the actual study as it gave good indications pertaining to the suitability of data collection instruments to be employed in the actual study. The pilot study provided ample opportunity to rephrase some questions that failed to give the much-needed information. Notes were made in margins so as to accurately attend to those that needed attention and clarity. Six participants, two of whom were selected from each of the selected centers, were selected based on their agreement to participate without coercion. Questions were administered to all participants and scrutinized, and readjustments were made where it was deemed necessary to do so. Interviews in the form of face-to-face interviews were carried out, and clarity gaps were identified and closed. Observations also paved the way for a helicopter view of the actual perceptions of all participants about the topic as well as ensuring that all three tools could direct the responses toward answering the research questions. During pilot testing, we discovered that there were terms and abbreviations used that confused participants a little, so an explanation of terms and abbreviations used was given. Such words included recidivism and custodial staff and abbreviations included CMC for Case Management Committee and EST for the Emergency Support Team.

4.6 Data analysis

Descriptive analysis was used in order to be able to answer the question, “What happened?” Calzon [40] describes descriptive analysis as the starting point for any analytic process as it aims to answer the question of what happened. It does this by ordering, manipulating, and interpreting raw data from various sources to turn it into valuable insights. We also used a thematic data analysis strategy. It looks across all data to identify common issues that recur [33]. Refs. [41, 42, 43] describe qualitative data analysis as a systematic process of organizing and interrogating data in ways that allow researchers to identify patterns, codes, and themes, discover relationships, develop explanations, make interpretations and mount critiques, and/or generate theories. Themes were identified, and an in-depth analysis was carried out to make sense of what interviewees had said. A coding system was used wherein pseudonyms for participants were utilized. Interviews and observation results were compared and analyzed systematically to draw informed and reliable conclusions.

4.7 Ethical considerations

As the research was conducted in a correctional services security-conscious environment, permission was sought from concerned stakeholders such as the area commissioner’s office through the Manager of Education and Training, the heads of correctional Centers, as well as selected officials for the study. Informed consent was received from all participants as they all consented to voluntarily engage in the activity. Three ethical principles, namely, (i) respect for persons engaged in research, (ii) beneficence with reference to what the benefits of the study will be, and (iii) respect for the community under which the research is undertaken by protecting them from all sorts of harm whether physical and psychological were prioritized. Prior to the actual engagement in the study, participants were assured that they would remain anonymous, and the confidentiality of the information that they would give was guaranteed. Finally, permission was granted by the head of correctional centers for the researchers to conduct the study.

5. Presentation of the findings of the study

5.1 What challenges do prison educators encounter in their quest to provide effective education programs for offenders?

Most educators who participated in the study seemed to share the same sentiments with reference to challenges that they faced in the execution of their duties in correctional centers. Educators unanimously agreed that the correctional services setting was very unique, to a degree that methodological skills only were insufficient. Educators found themselves caught between the keepers and the kept, and as such, they found it necessary to develop specific skills to mediate the environment between offenders (the kept) and the correctional officials (the keepers) before they could start engaging offenders in education and training programs. The question was: “How do you acclimatize to a prison setting that is very different from one from Department of Education?”

Educator 1 said that ‘Uphoswa ehlathini kuthiwe uyakuzibona’ (You are just thrown into the forest and you must see your way out). Offenders are likely to demonstrate an unwillingness to obey and respond to educators’ instructions as most of them have not been exposed to taking instructions from females and would always attempt to show their masculinity through resilience and showing off their toughness causing a barrier toward effective tuition and progress.

5.1.1 Security

The setting prioritizes security, and, consequently, factors that should encourage a positive teaching and learning environment were compromised. Educators were suffocated between security-conscious custodial officials and mentally and spiritually, emotionally bruised, and depressed offenders. Educators’ training needs received no attention in this area. A professional gap that existed between educators and custodial staff seemed to be at the core of poor cooperation, yet the two should share a common goal in the execution and rendering of educational programs for effective reintegration of offenders in a combined attempt to root out recidivism that is a global challenge. The correctional services environment seems to lack professional respect for educators in the sense that educators were not included in the decision-making with reference to surprise searches, transfers, and sanctioning of offenders. In response to the question “How much support do educational programs receive from the centre?” both educators 2 and 3 unanimously admitted their severe lack of necessary skills and felt that they should be offered help in order to cope with the environment that is built on mistrust; they were caught between offenders and security officials as nonentities. Educator 2 said, “Apha wenziwa uzincinci phakathi kwabo” (Here you are perceived as the dumbest amongst them). Responses from educators seemed to suggest that educators lacked the necessary skills to identify educational gaps that determine how learners could bridge the gaps in their education. Educator 2 further said that “I think there are skills needed to determine how learners bridge the gaps in their education rather than determining learner’s perspective of education. Moreover, male offenders appear to have toxic masculine characteristics wherein they show less respect for female educators. Some of them still perceive taking orders from female educators who are sometimes younger than them as means to usurp their masculine powers.”

5.1.2 Lack of support

According to the educators’ responses, educators had not been trained as assessors or moderators since 2004. The question was “How much developmental support do you receive from important stakeholders in the system?” Educators could not wait to be given a chance to talk. Educator 4 said “Yhooo sukuyithetha ke leyo, ndina ten years, some twelve years ndicela into enye” (…Do not even mention that; this is my tenth, and for some, the twelfth year of submitting requests for training).

5.1.3 Absence of resources

The question was “How much impact does the absence of facilities have on educator and learner interest and performance?” Facilities were a bone of contention. Educator 5 said “The absence of classes that should be the basis of a conducive environment cannot be overemphasized. There are no classrooms nor staff rooms in our centre as such eight educators share one small office to a degree that it is difficult to perform administrative duties such as educators’ monitoring as well as educators’ preparatory activities. We are cramped such as a tin of sardines in this small office” (educator 5).

Another educator said.

“The youth centre was renovated three times since 2004 but alarmingly there has never been a single classroom built in order to improve teaching and learning environment. This failure of the Department of Correctional Services to budget for classrooms seems to indicate that education of offenders is not a priority; as such establishing a structure that will boost the morale of both educators and learners is still pie in the sky. Even the last renovation that expended about sixteen million, six hundred and sixty-one thousand, four hundred and forty-nine Rends seventy-five cents (R16, 661,449.75) failed to cater for a single classroom” (educator 7).

Educator 8, shared the same sentiments as expressed by educators 5 and 7 and said

“In the middle of the COVID 19 outbreak, the Department of Correctional Services circulated a contingency plan document dated 2020/03/27: HR Directive 1 of 2020 (Direction on the management of human resources during COVID 19 lockdown) wherein all categories of employees were to be categorized as either essential or critical. From that document, only educators were given special leave in correctional centres. Such an initiative should not only be viewed as a safety-conscious measure but as a yardstick through which the educators’ contribution is perceived by the Department.”

Educators 8, 5, and 7 shared the same sentiments revolving around non-cooperation and nonprioritization of educational programs and doubtful willingness of the department to improve the manner in which education and training programs for offenders were rendered.

5.1.4 Multidisciplinary approach

All interviews with both the educators and the learners seemed to reflect the same sentiments and experiences with regard to poor support for the education and training programs from other stakeholders. In their responses, participants lamented the fact that learner attendance depended on the day’s attitude of the school guard.

Educator 3 said, “Kufuneka uhleke noba ayihlekisi kuba ucenge isikolo (You put a smile on your face even if you do not mean it). This translates into little support for the transformative capability and personal development contributions which correctional education programmes could provide. Nurses, social workers, psychologists, spiritual workers and work team managers often summoned offenders for their services or appointments during school hours resulting in erratic or poor attendance.”

5.1.5 Transfer of offenders’ mid-program

Without any doubt, the Department of Correctional Services prioritizes security over the development of offenders.

The question was “Why do you register such high numbers at the beginning of the year but only a smaller portion of learners manage to sit for the final examination?”

Different responses were received from different categories of participants. Educator 6 responded by saying that time and again meetings were held with center stake-holders such as a case officer, unit manager, security manager, center coordinator corrections, and the head of the center (HCC) with a view to highlighting the impact such transfers have when submitting monthly performance reports also referred to as the monthly statistical reports.

Educator 6 thus said “Yhoo hayi yonke imihla sithetha into enye, uva kusithiwa weemka lowo wena ulibele kukubhala u ‘absent’ kungcole nezoncwadi” (Every day we complain about one thing; you continuously write absent next to his name only to find out that he is long gone).

In support of educator 6, educator 2 said

“Offenders are transferred without consulting educators; as such their progress is not considered, resulting in the inability of educators to trace each offender’s progress in rehabilitation and development. Contrary to the latter, when educators submit transfer requests for offenders for educational and developmental reason, such requests receive no attention. For a practical example, in one of the centres, a transfer request was submitted in September 2019 so that the offender is registered for the following year but until April 2020 that offender has not been transferred.”

5.1.6 Negative perception

Educators revealed their experience-based insight pertaining to how the program seemed to be perceived by other stakeholders. They pointed out a crucial point in that the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998, together with underpinning policy documents, failed to promote compulsory education; it is stated clearly that engagement in such programs is voluntary. Unlike other programs, nonengagement in education is not taken as a serious element that prevents the offender from getting parole.

Educator 1 said “School will always be secondary to work teams as long as there is no incentive plan for school students while they get paid when performing work.”

5.2 Overview of data collected from researchers’ field observations and interviews

Data from observations and interviews were classified and categorized. Learner offenders, custodial officials, and managers had their responses collected, deconstructed, interpreted, and reconstructed into the following relevant and meaningful themes:

5.2.1 Data from offenders

5.2.1.1 Poor attendance

Ormrod [18] states that, learning results in a change in attitudes. According to the participants’ views, the low rate of school attendance was caused by both internal and external factors. The question was “Why are offenders reluctant to attend educational programmes?” Learner 1 said: “Most officials demotivate offenders through their negative utterances that bruise the offender’s self-esteem. Siyathukwa ngoo baba” (We are being insulted by officials). Learner 2 raised the same challenge as indicated by the educators and thus said:

The absence of resources such as classes, libraries and computer laboratories depict the correctional education as unimportant compared to what they have experienced prior to incarceration. He added that poor orientation on admission was to blame. Each offender is just introduced to school programmes whilst still confused and traumatized, especially the first-time offenders.

Emotionally, Learner 3 said: “It takes us a long time before we can accept that we are really incarcerated.”.

Offenders’ lack of interest in school activities is due to a number of reasons; for instance, they were recruited to education programs without addressing the underlying personal or individual circumstances and challenges due to the inability of the Unit Managers and Case Intervention Officers (CIOs) to orientate offenders on admission.

5.2.2 Cultural background of offenders

The question was “Why do most offenders who come from remote rural areas not show any interest in educational programmes?”

Learner 4 responded “Most offenders, especially those who came from remote rural areas regarded education as a secondary option to job seeking; the former being viewed as an awful waste of time that should be utilized for future job seeking: (Thina sikhangela ispan, iyalibazisa lento yesikolo) (We are looking for jobs, schooling is a waste of time).”

This seemed to suggest that rural men desired autonomy resulting in the inability to adjust to a school culture. Additionally, studies conducted revealed that many men were characterized by poor educational attachment due to bad schooling experiences while they were in the lower grades [19]. Views on masculinity may influence the manner in which offenders perceive education, schooling, and teaching methodologies and curricular activities. Cohen [19] seem to concur that men sometimes display a negative educational attachment and more so than females generally [20].

5.2.3 Attitude of custodial staff members

Learners seemed to share similar experiences and views in their responses to the questions. They responded that often time was wasted by officials who did not show up and escort offenders to tuition venues. Three learners, five, six, and seven said that they were always ready as early as half past seven but officials open cells at eight o’clock. It took them more than 30 minutes to reach the school venues as they were counted and recounted at all access gates and each gate official took his time to let them through.

Learner 5 reported “Some days we do not attend classes because there is no guard to escort us to the tuition venue”. Similarly, Learner 6 thus said, “Those officials don’t care about us, sometimes they very late after we had waited for more than thirty minutes or they simply don’t show up and we end up not attending classes.”

Learner 7 said “Kaloku inkqubo kanontlalo yiyo efunwayo yibhodi” (The social work report is needed during parole board sittings). It appears that the parole board simply did not promote the engagement of offenders in educational programs, and as such, attendance was voluntary, and it was difficult for educators to retain learners for the whole academic year. Most of them dropped out.

5.3 Data from officials

5.3.1 Low self-esteem of custodial officials

Even though custodial officials defended themselves by saying they were willing to support education programs, the observations were contrary to the interview responses. During informal conversations, it became evident that they were actually not in support of such programs.

Official Custodian 1 said “Aba bashiya izikolo ezinye bazitshisa ngaphandle ngoku bazokuhlupha thina ndaweni yokubhantinta njengokuba kubhalilwe kwi warrant” (These offenders burnt schools and some dropped out; now they bother us instead of serving their sentence as stated in their warrants). Fortunately, an observation opportunity presented itself over the usage of personal laptops by three schooling offenders. Officials argued that the usage of laptops by offenders posed a security threat, and as such, the usage thereof and enrolment at different higher education and training (HET) institutions should be suspended.

In support of Official Custodian 1, Custodian official 2 said “Eyona ngxaki yinto yokuba asikwazi kuqiniseka ngokukhusela kwalenkqubo kuba asikwazi ukwenza umehluko phakathi kwalento bamele kuyifunda naxa sele besenza okungavumelekanga” (The main problem is that we cannot be sure about the safety of the programs as we are unable to differentiate between what they should be doing as learners and when they begin to misuse computers). Clearly, the custodial officials could not cope with the technology aspect of their duties.

5.3.2 Lack of professionalism within the custodial staff

The observations we made from the interviews, indicated that both managers and custodial staff were against the professionalization of the manner in which correctional services should be delivered. Both categories seemed to staunchly believe that offenders should be kept locked behind bars without affording them opportunities to strive toward being law-abiding citizens of the country. Both Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture (SRAC) and Education and Training programs suffer a severe lack of support at the hands of custodial officials who are obsessed with incarceration. Moreover, remarkably, even the few officials who happened to have furthered their studies in order to acquire recognizable qualifications did not perceive themselves as professionals and dismissively referred to educators, nurses, and social workers as “those professionals,” thereby distancing themselves from anyone deemed professional. The conundrum that exists between custodial officials and educators hinders possible transformation that should prevail in correctional centers.

5.4 Data from managers

5.4.1 Time constraints for management

Four managers in the positions of head correctional centers (HCCs) were interviewed. They seemed to understand the departmental obligation to develop and rehabilitate offenders so that they could change to become law-abiding citizens; they are faced with different challenges. They were asked to respond to the question, “What is your biggest challenge as a manager that you encounter daily that affects the moulding of offenders?” All the four managers pointed out the challenge of time because of too many duties they were expected to do. Manager 3 had this to say “It is quite challenging to work in such environments. You have to remain vigilant all the time and be time conscious. My great challenge is time constraints that we normally talk about with my colleagues so we would end up doing things without consulting.” Similarly, Manager 1 said “The primary responsibility of the Department is security; before anything can happen, security-related services must take priority. We have a severe shortage of officials as such other programmes can only take place when there are enough staff. This affects us on the issue off time.”

There is a complaint that educators are not involved in the decision-making with reference to matters that involve them and the running of their programs. If so, can you elaborate on that, especially on transfers, searches, sanctioning of offenders and the use of education venues for other programs during school hours?

Manager 4 responded (with a smile): “Uyabona wena lento yobukho bootitshala yinto entsha, ayide iqheleke as such siyabalibala kwizinto ezininzi kuba sijongene ne security” (You see the presence of educators is something new to us, we are not used to them so we forget them. We are concerned with security). Also, Manager 2 said “Educators at some point make officials feel inferior, especially those educators who are also managers or were in the system for quite some time, even longer than most of officials consequently some meeting are unproductive due to little or no contribution from custodial officials. This may be because some educators, especially in smaller centres, have had a glimpse of every section and have become more knowledgeable.”

Overall responses to interviews with both custodial officials and managers revealed that there was covert non-co-operation between custodial officials and educators that appeared to result in inferiority and negative stereotypes that affect negatively the studies of the offenders.

5.4.2 Analysis

Findings from educators and learners through the use of interviews and observations revealed that they shared common views with reference to the absence of adequate resources such as classrooms, libraries, and computer laboratories, poor orientation of offenders on admission to correctional centers, lack of support from managers, and negative perceptions by custodial officials. This could probably be because both parties are directly affected by such negative barriers to the promotion of effective rendering of formal education programs to offenders. Greenwood [44] agrees in line with these findings that rewarding students for working well with recommendations or praise points is a behaviorist approach that conditions students to behave well to strive for better performance. In short, the behaviorist theory is relevant. As pointed out by educators, learning has the potential to change the offending behavior of offenders. In contrast, both managers and custodial officials seemed to hold a similar belief that offenders did not deserve to be given a second chance to equip and develop themselves for effective reintegration into their communities as law-abiding citizens in order to root out recidivism that simply contributed to overcrowding in correctional centers.

Educators revealed their plight which emanated from the feeling being sidelined by the correctional system. Poor orientation, inadequate resources, and slow transformation of the correctional system toward rehabilitation-orientated centers and lack of inclusion in decision-making on matters that concerned their daily operations were identified as key challenges characterizing the views of professional educators in such centers.

Learner offenders also shared their daily experiences. Challenges, inclusive of negative utterances from custodial officials, and competing programs offering incentives, meant that education and training programs suffered. In addition, poor orientation of offenders on admission caused offenders to fail to play an active role in executing their sentence plans.

Both managers and custodial officials appeared disconnected from both the government’s and department’s call to equip offenders with the necessary skills for effective reintegration in order to fight recidivism. This results in overcrowding that, in turn, gives rise to gangsterism in correctional centers. McKean [3], supported Vandala [45], confirming that the poor engagement of offenders in rehabilitation programs has a greater potential to promote recidivism. Performance gaps in the area of delivering effective education and training programs to offenders were identified, and recommendations are based on such omissions.

6. Discussion of the finding

6.1 An overview

Overall, the engagement of offenders in education and training programs is over-shadowed by a myriad of challenges. Educators pointed to the shortage of educators, absence of resources, poor orientation, and lack of teacher training to meet the environmental demands of the correctional settings as well as no involvement in decision making especially with regards to issues pertaining to educational matters. This is done without considering the positive impact they will have on the progress of the offender and the professional view of educators. Mkhosi [46] shared the same sentiments as educators in that the lack of support and focus on punishment rather than rehabilitation has a negative effect on already side-lined educational programs in a correctional environment to a degree that it is seen by most officials as secondary to security. These challenges contribute immensely to impeding the engagement of offenders in such programs and discourage educators.

Offenders-learners’ perspective of the manner in which programs are rendered in these centers concurred with that of educators with reference to resources, poor attendance, and high drop-out rate. Both managers and custodial officials seemed to share a negative attitude toward offenders’ education while incarcerated. The slow transformation in rehabilitation through education and training could do with greater support from these officials as their indifferences hampered progressive steps that should have been made by now around the effective rendering of education and training programs to offenders.

Correctional centers especially, those where the study was carried out, were not ready to offer and render education and training programs effectively. There were conflicting interests amongst offender learners and those who were yet to decide on the program, educators, and custodial staff. Both stakeholders appeared to be at odds. Simultaneously, there was an ongoing war between the keepers and the kept over issues of mistrust which jeopardized the teaching and learning environment. South Africa seems to be far behind in terms of developmental interventions to improve the manner in which the education of offenders is treated. The education and training of offenders appear to be at the bottom of the agenda of the Department of Correctional Services. Educators seem to be a possible point of contact between the parties that pull against each other, that is, offenders and custodial officials, and they need to stay abreast of new information and knowledge to mediate the situation.

Cohen [19] agree that, in a correctional setting, educators need the necessary skills to identify educational gaps that determine learners’ perspectives of education so that relevant approaches are employed when recruiting offenders to programs. Wright [17] concurs with the view that prisons harbor “waffling staff factions.” He argues that prison education is often not a “family member” of the correctional program or institution: there is often an “ongoing war between the keepers and the kept,” as already stated. Consequent to that, the developmental programs are robbed of an opportunity to display any capability of changing the offending behavior for effective reintegration into society and decreased recidivism. This assertion is in line with behaviorists who believe that our responses to environmental stimuli shape our actions as such; as people learn, they alter or change the manner in which they perceive the environment, the way they interpret the incoming stimuli, and the way they interact [47, 48]. In short, such theories are confirmed in that when all challenges identified can be attended to efficiently, the perceptions of custodial officials and managers can positively change, resulting in offenders showing more interest in formal education programs and educators being motivated to do more. The effective rendering of formal education programs would surely improve in the Mthatha Management Area in the Eastern Cape Province if cooperation and change were the order of the day.

Finally, the Department of Correctional Services seems to have failed to demonstrate positive strides to prioritize the education of offenders in the Mthatha Area in the sense that one youth center has not benefitted from the last renovation undertaken. Authorities spent over R16,661,449.75 on upgrades but not a single classroom was built in this center to show support for educational programs. This type of infrastructure as a resource is simply neglected.

6.2 Irrelevant orientation strategy of educators when joining the department

Educators shared the same experiences with reference to how they had been introduced into the correctional system that is very unique. Teaching skills are insufficient for operating effectively in the correctional setting. Cohen [19] agrees that, in a correctional setting, educators need the necessary skills to identify educational gaps that determine learners’ perspectives of education so that relevant approaches are employed when recruiting offenders to programs. Educators claimed that they had not been trained in many aspects including understanding the nature of learners they were to deal with, the toxic masculine aspects of offenders that hindered their educational progress, the ability to deal with the actual perceptions of all stakeholders, and the position of education. As one educator mentioned it earlier that.

“Moreover, male offenders appear to have toxic masculine characteristics wherein they show less respect for female educators. Some of them still perceive taking orders from female educators who are sometimes younger than them as means to usurp their masculine powers.”

While offenders were trained in gardening skills, educators in correctional services received no additional training. Furthermore, in these institutions, educators were found to not being fully equipped with the necessary teaching skills and competencies to put them on a par with their counterparts in main-stream education. This creates a situation where correctional services educators felt bound to remain in the correctional services department. However, some educators resorted to upgrading their skills themselves in order to be able to reintegrate into main-stream schools later. Uphoswa ehlathini kuthiwe uyakuzibona (You are just thrown into the forest and you must see your way out). Such findings are also confirmed and experienced by educators in European prisons. Hawley [4] confirms this finding by establishing that the prison context is unique and imposes restrictions and constraints not experienced elsewhere; nevertheless, prison educators and trainers need generic teaching and training skills and competences which need to be supplemented by additional skills and capacities specific to the prison context.

6.3 Lack of support from educators’ superiors and stakeholders

The study established that educators, supervisors, and other stakeholders did not work in cooperation with each other, and educators were not on an equal footing with regard to the provision and smooth running of education and training programs. The transfer of offenders at mid-program impacted heavily on educator planning and performance; for instance, educators had to mark attendance registers every day. Often, an offender would appear to have played truant and stayed away, but they would be marked as absent, while in fact they have been transferred, thus causing a serious discrepancy at the end of the month.

Educator 1 said “Yhoo hayi yonke imihla sithetha into enye, uva kusithiwa weemka lowo wena ulibele kukubhala u ‘absent’ kungcole nezoncwadi” (Every day, we complain about one thing: you regularly write absent next to his name only to find out that he is long gone). Noninvolvement of educators in staff decision-making exacerbated the conditions as such classes were interrupted time and again due to searches, absence of school guards for escorting, sanctioning of learners for matters not related to school programs as well as bad weather, especially in centers where classes were conducted in open courtyards. In two centers, sports programs were conducted during school hours resulting in most learners who participated in sports being likely to absent themselves and attend the sports programs. Rupande and Ndoro [12] revealed that, in most African countries such as Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Kenya, little attention was being given to formal education. The findings of this study confirmed that, indeed, education programs have a very limited space in correctional settings as compared to other programs.

6.4 Offenders’ participation in education programs

Having examined offenders’ perceptions, it can be concluded that offender learners are a unique type of learner who are recruited to attend school, despite underlying issues that need to be addressed before engagement. Such issues include frustration, especially for first-time offenders, misery, sadness and hopelessness, as well as denial. These personal and intrinsic challenges may result in a lack of interest in school programs. McLean [23] reports that, in America, offenders do not receive an orientation to help them to understand their rehabilitation. The findings of the study established that the manner in which custodial officials perceive and treat offenders’ educational matters impacts much on how offenders engage in formal education programs. Du Plessis [47] confirms that poor orientation and negative perceptions by officials can easily be transferred to learners.

Some offenders also face dispositional barriers that exacerbate their reluctance to attend programs. These barriers are linked to their personal historical circumstances. This challenge has also been noted in other countries. Hawley [4] found that most prisoners in European countries came from disadvantaged backgrounds. Such backgrounds included previous failure in education and having low self-esteem, both of which can often hinder their participation in prison education. Similarly, in England and Wales, Czerniawski [48] found that childhood history, previous educational failure, low self-esteem, and mental health disabilities acted as barriers that inhibited some prisoners’ participation in education. It can thus be argued here that, to some extent, prisoners’ previous educational experiences acted as barriers and contributed severely to challenges that diminished effective engagement and the smooth running of educational programs.

6.5 Poor time and resources management

Both educators and learners shared the same views pertaining to the scheduling and structuring of programs. Programs conflicted with each other because a structured day program was not being followed. Two of the centers conducted classes in dining halls that are shared with spiritual programs, social work programs, meals, cultural activities, skills training, as well as indoor sports programs. This was a great challenge as tuition time was compromised. Manager Laqhasha’s (pseudonym) response was “Ezinye izinto sizenza just for compliance; they are not practical” (We do things just for compliance, they are not practical). This indicates a lack of visionary attitude of managers toward improving administrative operations resulting in an impediment to education.

6.6 Slow transformation from prisons to corrections

It emerged from the study findings that prison facilities, especially buildings, were found to still represent the pre-1994 regime. There were still no classrooms, so classes were conducted in cells and open courtyards. Classes were still conducted under the guardship of armed security officials, and this has been seen as another factor that diminishes the interest of offenders to voluntarily engage in education and training programs. Moreover, such conditions do not only affect offenders and their tuition but the most important member, the educators. Teaching in corners of the courtyard where external factors such as extreme temperatures seemed to undermine the dignity of teaching as a profession and degrade the already-precarious position of education in correctional centers. The absence of libraries and inadequate office space and equipment such as photocopying machines, fax machines, and computers placed a burden on educators as they were forced to utilize their personal laptops to perform administrative duties.

The environment was simply not conducive to teaching and learning. This is also confirmed by Stamp [49] in a study conducted in the Western Cape region that both extrinsic and intrinsic factors inclusive of small classrooms that are overcrowded, as well as social conditions of inmates serve as some barriers to the effective rendering of formal education programs. Finally, in line with the work of Safety [50], the Correctional Services’ Act 111 of 1996 gives offenders a choice to voluntarily engage in formal education programs. This seems to have the potential to promote poor attendance and a high dropout rate as offenders do not feel obliged to take part in such programs. Overall, the legislative framework of the Department of Correctional Services seems to have failed to prioritize the education of offenders by not coming up with policies that encourage offenders to attend education programs, create a conducive teaching and learning environment, hire more staff to deliver in that area, orientate and train educators to easily acclimatize to a unique prison setting, and train custodial or security officials to understand their key role in motivating offenders to engage in formal education programs for seemless reintegration and to avoid recidivism, so prevalent amongst offenders.

7. Recommendations

Educators have had similar challenges in all centers. Based on the findings of the current study and understanding of the literature reviewed from across the world, the correctional environment requires educators to be trained. Prison educators as a special category of educators should be trained intensively, developed and equipped with the necessary skills that will prepare them to adjust to and withstand the challenges that the correctional environment brings. Education seems to be a stepchild of the correctional environment, and as such, it is often secondary to security matters and educators need to be trained as mediators of trust and learning between the custodial members and offenders.

The perception of unprofessional correctional services staff toward offenders’ education was cited by the participants of this study as one of the main contributors toward a negative educational environment. In line with this finding, the literature reviewed spells out the view that prison education is not considered a “family member” of the correctional program or institution: there is often an “ongoing war between the keepers and the kept,” according to Wright [17]. Under these assertions, the Department of Correctional Services should begin to train all its staff members in the professionalization of prisons so as to encourage the mind shift from a punitive and security-preoccupied approach to a developmental approach.

A focused human resource development strategy should ensure delivery of the new policy direction of the department through the retraining of members regarding the new paradigm that is the ongoing professionalization of staff of the Department of Correctional Services and induction and orientation of new members (DCS White Paper on Corrections, February 2005). This legal obligation seems to have died as it is merely paid – lip service; the opposite is taking place on the ground.

A professional approach would have the potential to improve the manner in which the offender’s educational programs are perceived and rendered. The Department of Correctional Services should acknowledge the theoretical perspective that rendering education programs to offenders has a strong behaviorist backup that education has a potential to change the behavior and attitudes of persons as such intense training is needed for educators, custodial officials, and offenders is essential.

Schunk [51] asserts that learning is an enduring change in behavior and involves acquiring and modifying knowledge, skills, strategies, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors and that people learn cognitive, behavioral, linguistic, motor, and social skills. This can definitely change the negative perceptions of both custodial and offenders toward prison education programs.

8. Future studies

The book chapter outlined challenges encountered in rendering educational services to the offenders. Remedies to such challenges were recommended as progressive steps toward the betterment of the manner in which education and training programs can be rendered for effective rehabilitation, reintegration, and diminishing recidivism. The study focused more strictly on the challenges but opened further research avenues for other researchers to dig deeper into the relevance of the Department of Correctional Services NQF Level 5 learnership program in line with the call to close the skills gap between professionals and custodial officials in order to meet the demands for the effective rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.

9. Conclusion

The research study was carried out in the Eastern Cape Province in four correctional centers with the objective of promoting the effective rendering of formal education programs in these four correctional centers of South Africa. Based on the uniqueness of the correctional system, a lot of limitations that needed positive approach were encountered. Due to operational settings, there were unforeseeable challenges such as the transfer of offenders. In this regard, only offenders whose transfers were not affected during the time of the study were selected. Stereotyping on the side of officials that had the potential to negatively influence offenders to withdraw from the activity was dealt with prior to the commencement of the contact with participants. The spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic certainly had a negative impact due to limited entry to correctional facilities including compliance with the lockdown regulations as a measure to combat the spread of the disease. The prohibition on the use of cameras, photos, and video tapes also posed a challenge for the researchers. Due to both COVID-19 and strict security measures, it became impossible to do member checking. The study revealed that inadequate resources hindered the smooth running and rendering of education programs in correctional centers. The government has simply not rectified the imbalances of the past by rebuilding prisons to accommodate rehabilitative needs. This is one of the causes of the challenges experienced by prison educators. With a general shortage of educators, the ones employed are overloaded with work that goes beyond tuition and school administrative duties. Such ad hoc duties reported included compiling parole board reports, participating in Case Review Teams (CRTs), skills programs, and youth programs such as The Presidential Award programs (TPA) as well as the Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture (SRAC) work that all demand paperwork and administration for monthly reports.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.