Education and criminal justice are inextricably linked. The education system failed many prisoners: Over 60 percent of them are functionally illiterate and lack skills to enter the workforce. However, over 90 percent of inmates will be released and return to their communities. What can we do as a society to insure they succeed?

In this episode of the Report Card, on the AEI Education podcast, host Nat Malkus talks to Gerard Robinson and Elizabeth English Smith about efforts to provide educational opportunities behind bars, what programs are working, and what obstacles are preventing former inmates from getting a second chance.

Related: Education for Liberation: The Politics of Promise and Reform Inside and Beyond America’s Prisons | Gerard Robinson & Elizabeth English Smith | Rowman & Littlefield, 2019