Prison overcrowding and fair sentencing concerns are continuously prompting criminal justice advocates to find ways to deal with offenders. Sawyer and Wagner point out that "the U.S. doesn't have one 'criminal justice system'; instead, we have thousands of federal, state, local, and tribal systems. Together, these systems hold almost two million people in 1,566 state prisons, 98 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails, 1,323 juvenile correctional facilities, 181 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories." 

How many offenders in these facilities are nonviolent? There is no uniform definition of the term "nonviolent" and thus, the term lends itself to different interpretations in various contexts. Notwithstanding such variations, a powerful argument can be made that the expansion of educational opportunities in carceral settings confers benefits upon both nonviolent offenders and the society at large. 

Turning to the research evidence, while there is less than robust evidence as to whether such education changes the outcomes for post-release employment opportunities, a meta-analysis of 37 years of research shows that education while in prison reduces recidivism (Bozik et al., 2018). Reduction in recidivism is a clear benefit both to the individual who has the opportunity to pursue a more meaningful and productive life post-release and to the whole society who reaps the fruits of such reengagement.