Opinion: Canada’s cuts are undermining prison education — and public safety

Correctional Service Canada (CSC) has decided to eliminate the CEGEP program in Quebec’s federal prisons, ending more than 50 years of post-secondary education for incarcerated people. At the same time, librarian positions and other educational supports are being cut across the country. These decisions may appear administrative, but their impact will be profound.

Quebec has long been a leader in prison education through its CEGEP system, which has provided incarcerated people with access to college-level learning for decades. The loss of this program is not just a policy shift—it is the dismantling of a proven pathway to reintegration.

When governments talk about public safety, the focus is often on policing, sentencing and incarceration. Yet one of the most effective ways to make communities safer receives far less attention: education in prison.

Decades of research show that people who participate in prison education are significantly less likely to reoffend and more likely to find employment upon release. Education improves literacy, builds practical skills and fosters critical thinking — all essential tools for rebuilding a stable life. These benefits extend beyond the individual, strengthening families and reducing the long-term social and financial costs of crime.

Cutting access to post-secondary education ignores what we know works.

The elimination of CEGEP programming follows $132 million in cuts to CSC in the latest federal budget. The program’s board has unanimously condemned the decision and called for a review. But this is not an isolated move — it is part of a broader shift that includes eliminating prison librarians and other educational supports nationwide.

Most people in prison will eventually return to the community. If public safety is the goal, correctional policy must prepare them for that transition.

Prison libraries are essential to making education programs work. They provide access to textbooks, research materials and opportunities for self-directed learning. But without trained staff, they cannot function effectively. As the Atlantic Provinces Library Association recently wrote in a letter to Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, “A prison library without a librarian is not a library.”

Most people in prison will eventually return to the community. If public safety is the goal, correctional policy must prepare them for that transition. Are people leaving with the education, skills and confidence to build stable lives — or with fewer opportunities and greater barriers than when they entered?

These cuts make the answer clear.

CSC’s mandate is not only to supervise those in custody, but to contribute to public safety by encouraging law-abiding behaviours. Education, literacy and access to education are central to that mission. Treating them as expendable undermines the very foundation of reintegration.

Prison education delivers clear social and economic benefits. Cutting programs like CEGEP may reduce costs in the short term, but will almost certainly lead to higher rates of recidivism and greater long-term costs for communities and taxpayers.

Canada has historically attempted to distinguish itself from more punitive systems — particularly in the United States — by emphasizing rehabilitation as a core principle. This approach did not emerge by accident. It was shaped in part by the Archambault Commission, a landmark inquiry that transformed the country’s penitentiary system by shifting away from punishment. The Commission’s findings laid the groundwork for a corrections philosophy centred on education and reintegration — principles that have guided Canadian policy for decades.

This approach is not just philosophical; it is evidence-based and tied to better reintegration outcomes. Scaling back prison education risks moving Canada away from that model and toward less effective, more costly approaches that do little to enhance long-term public safety.

If public safety is truly the goal, dismantling education in prisons is not just misguided — it is a step backward Canada cannot afford.

Lisa Monchalin teaches at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C., and is a Canada Research Chair in Wrongful Convictions. Isabel Scheuneman Scott teaches at KPU and her research centres Indigenous women’s storytelling in prison.

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