EXCHANGE OF METHODOLOGIES IN EDUCATION OF DETAINEES - STUDY ON CORRECTIONAL COMPUTER EDUCATION COURSES IN BELGIUM - THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE

This paper reviews the organization and the efficiency of computer education courses in three correctional facilities in Belgium over the last six years. Studies on prison education have been a popular topic over the last decade. There have been meta-analyses, several “vote counting” reviews where analysts list studies that support or disconfirm the benefits of correctional education and then draw conclusions about the overall impact, and many other summaries of the research literature where the researchers select a few studies, cite their results, and draw inferences. The critical analysts, those that closely evaluate and assess the study methodology are much less sanguine about the relationship between correctional education and successful reentry than the more forgiving analysts who treat all of the research results in this literature on an equal footing. This study describes the data of participation and certification of inmates in the correctional facilities of Merksplas, Turnhout and Hoogstraten. The results indicate that the intensity of the program and the course content have a significant impact on the number of participants and the success rate of the inmates. However, this study has only an approximation of the effects on success of the participants. Further research on the impact of class sizes and the inmates backgrounds or ambitions must be conducted.