Prison Education Characteristics and Classroom Management by Prison Teachers

Abstract The purpose of this research will be to present the classroom management issues faced by prison teachers and introduce strategies applied by prison teachers managing them within the formal education system in correctional service. Cell classrooms, inmate students, and prison teachers’ characteristics and the importance of prison education are to be analyzed within Kosovo Correctional Service. To reach these goals three questions will be raised: 1. What are the classroom management issues in prison schools? 2. Are the prison teachers professionally prepared to teach to inmate students? and 3. Do prison schools differ from schools in the common world? This study will be introduced through qualitative data and a literature review as instruments of the study dedicated to prison classroom management and characteristics, teachers and inmates’ responsibilities and benefits within the informal education system within Kosovo Correctional Service. The research findings revealed that similar classroom management issues are present in prison schooling compared to classrooms in the free world; prison teachers are not additionally prepared to teach in prison classrooms to inmate students. Prisoners, who plan to rehabilitate and reintegrate themselves through formal prison education, want their circumstances and prison characteristics to be taken into consideration by all factors involved in their schooling within prison walls.