De Hong, Ph. D. 釋善心 1 Teaching Buddhism in Several California State Prisons In the Age of the Internet Plus The United States (U.S.) is considered the most powerful country in the world and has consistently enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the past few decades. On the other hand, the U.S. has had the highest number of prisoners, approximately 22% of the world’s prisoner population, though it has less than five percent of the world’s population. 1 This is due to the federal and state governments’ policies toward violence, war on drugs, and mandatory sentencing since 1980. Those policies over the past four decades have led to 2.3 million Americans currently being locked up in federal and state prisons and jails. 2,3 Both federal and state governments have spent billions of dollars on incarceration each year. Last year in 2016, the cost of incarceration was $80.7 billion. 4 And this figure is likely to go up each year. However, according to a 2014 study published by the National Institute of Justice, the rate of recidivism was 67.8% within three years and 76.6% within five years nationwide. 5 For years, governments at both levels have tried to introduce different educational, vocational, and self-help programs to rehabilitate the men and women inside the prisons. But the rate of recidivism has remained high. However, studies have found that prisoners who participated in some types of college education during incarceration would be less likely to return to prisons. In a 2013 study, Rand reports that for each $1 invested in prison college education, it reduces the cost of incarceration by approximately $5 upon the first three years of a prisoner’s release. In addition, those inmates who participated in college education while incarcerated would be 43 percent less likely to commit an offense. 6 That translates into a 13-percentage point reduction in a prisoner’s chance of offending again. It has been reported that the recidivism rate for a prisoner with an associate degree drops to 13.7%, a bachelor degree drops to 5.6% and 0% for a master degree. 7 These studies demonstrate the importance and effectiveness of college education on prisoners. “Prison education reduces crime, prison education reduces recidivism, and prison education will make an enormously impact on our national economy.” 8 1 Michell Ye Hee Lee. “Does the United States really have 5 percent of the world’s population and one quarter of the world’s prisoners?” April 30, 2015, Accessed April 10, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/04/30/does-the-united-states-really- have-five-percent-of-worlds-population-and-one-quarter-of-the-worlds- prisoners/?utm_term=.b7b804e63644. 2 Peter Wagner and Bernadette Rabuy. “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie,” March 14, 2016, accessed April 10, 2017. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2016.html. 3 Michelle Alexander and Cornel West. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. 2011, 6. 4 Wagner, Peter and Bernadette Rabuy. “Follow the Money of Mass Incarceration,” January 25, 2017, accessed April 10, 2017. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/money.html. 5 “Recidivism.” June 17, 2014. https://www.nij.gov/topics/corrections/recidivism/Pages/welcome.aspx#statistics. Accessed April 19, 2017. 6 Davis, Lois M, Robert Bozick, Jennifer L Steele, Jessica Saunders, and Jeremy N.V. Miles. “Serving Time or Wasting Time? | RAND,” Fall 2013, Accessed April 10, 2017. http://www.rand.org/pubs/periodicals/rand-review/issues/2013/fall/viewing-gallery.html. 7 Zoukis. College for Convicts: The Case for Higher Education in American Prisons, 13. 8 Zoukis, 3.