Abstract:

Introduction:
Amidst the Covid 19 pandemic, Higher Education institutions (HEIs) continue grappling with ensuring access to education for all. The provision of education for all is necessary for knowledge production and skills development required for building an environment that restores human dignity. Therefore, HEIs play a crucial role in ensuring that offenders have the necessary skills when released from prison to avoid re-offending. Studying in a distance HEI can be challenging and rewarding for offenders and officials assisting the offenders.

Aim:
This study aimed to explore incarcerated students’ experiences on factors inhibiting effective learning in a Comprehensive Open Distance e-Learning (CODeL) institution in South Africa.

Methods:
This study employed a phenomenology design to conduct 14 in-depth interviews with incarcerated students through the Microsoft Teams platform. A purposeful sampling approach was used to select incarcerated students from the three correctional services sites. Five students came from the Female Maximum Prison, another five from the Male Maximum prison, and the last four from the Juvenile Centre. Audio recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim. A thematic inductive analysis involving familiarization with data, descriptive coding, code categorization according to similarities, and developing overarching themes for the study was used.

Results:
The study revealed that the disabling learning environments for the incarcerated students were due to learning space challenges, inadequate learning material, learning assessment challenges and learning time constraints. Learning disability was due to digital inaccessibility which included inaccessible technology, connectivity, and device access challenges.

Conclusion:
Incarcerated students registered in a CODeL institution are affected by academic and non-academic factors which hamper their success. With the Covid 19 pandemic accelerating distance education provision, incarcerated students are to be fully supported in their learning through the provision of adequate learning infrastructure, ensuring the availability of learning materials, and allowing sufficient online learning time.

Keywords:

Incarcerated students, distance education, prison, offender.