Prison Entrepreneurship Education - Systematic Literature Review

This article presents a systematic literature review (SLR) on prison entrepreneurship education, aiming to explore existing knowledge about prison education systems that promote entrepreneurial skills recognized by prisoners. Criminal recidivism is a complex, worldwide social problem for which there seems to be no optimal solution, only preventive measures. Its prevention promotes a social benefit for society as a whole. Lack of employment continues to be a factor in the social reintegration of prisoners, increasing the likelihood of recidivism. The few studies that portray the effect of programs involving entrepreneurship and education in prisons indicate that they are successful in being accepted by the prison population based on their proposed educational opportunities. However, this analysis is not conclusive when it comes to the recognition of opportunities by prisoners, and there is a need for more studies to be carried out to gauge an informed response and support the development of new policies to help meet this social need for successful social reintegration. However, in many countries, the educational offer of entrepreneurship programs does not cover all prisoners. This SLR includes results on entrepreneurship education in prisons regarding the recognition of entrepreneurial skills. It also partially explains the effects of entrepreneurship education in the prison system. The results of this SLR highlight the need for more comprehensive public policies and more effective entrepreneurial educational practices. It is necessary to ensure that all citizens deprived of their liberty have access to entrepreneurship education and that these initiatives align with the employment opportunities available in the labor market. Considering the existing limitations in research in this area, namely the small number of academic studies involving prisoners, combined with the difficulty for researchers to “enter” prison systems, we believe that this study is significant, given that the associated issues of criminal recidivism versus social reintegration affect society as a whole.