Challenges and Coping Strategies in the Implementation of College Education Behind Bars at Davao Prison and Penal Farm

College Education Behind Bars (CEBB) is recognized globally as a transformative tool for reducing recidivism and fostering the successful reintegration of Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs). Despite its growth, there is limited research on the operational realities faced by implementers navigating these highly restrictive environments. This study investigates the challenges encountered and the coping strategies employed in implementing the CEBB program at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm in the Philippines, a collaborative initiative involving Davao del Norte State College (DNSC) and the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, with support from a private implementing partner. The private implementing partner plays a key role in facilitating program implementation through logistical support, coordination, and educational service assistance, strengthening the partnership between the higher education institution and the correctional facility. This qualitative single-case study utilized purposive sampling to interview eight program implementers, including three coordinators and five faculty members. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis to uncover the challenges and coping mechanisms inherent in prison-based schooling. Implementers faced significant structural barriers, including institutional support constraints (funding gaps), credential-based eligibility hurdles, faculty workload strain, and stringent custodial security restrictions that disrupt academic continuity. Adaptive coping strategies employed included carceral inter-agency continuity meetings, collaborative document support systems involving families to secure academic records, and instructional resource substitution, which relies on printed modules and simulations to overcome technological gaps. The study concludes that prison higher education is a highly negotiated system where pedagogy and correctional control continually intersect. Sustaining such programs requires implementers to act as adaptive leaders who can reconstruct teaching processes to fit the realities of confinement.

college education behind bars; correctional education; program implementation; prison higher education; transformational leadership

1. Appleby, A. M. (2024). Access to technology for higher education in prison programs: Implications from a mixed-methods study. Corrections: Policy, Practice and Research, 10(4), 185–199. https://doi.org/10.1080/23774657.2024.2426090 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Behan, C., & Stark, A. (2023). Prisons and imprisonment: An introduction. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09301-2 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Berglund, J., Bjursell, C., & Hugo, M. (2025). Research on education in prisons: A scoping review. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 44(4), 436–449. https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2025.2465740 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Bozick, R., Steele, J. L., Davis, L. M., & Turner, S. (2018). Does providing inmates with education improve postrelease outcomes? A meta-analysis of correctional education programs in the United States. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 14(3), 389–428. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-018-9334-6 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2015). InterViews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing (3rd ed.). Sage Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. British Educational Research Association. (2018). Ethical guidelines for educational research (4th ed.). https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-2018 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Clements, A. J., & Kinman, G. (2021). Job demands, organizational justice, and emotional exhaustion in prison officers. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 61(4), 441–458. https://doi.org/10.1080/1478601X.2021.1999114 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. (1987). The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. Official Gazette. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/1987-constitution/ [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Costelloe, A. (2014). Learning for liberation, teaching for empowerment: Can prison education promote desistance? Journal of Prison Education and Reentry, 1(1), 20–35. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Costelloe, A. (2022). Not just another brick in the wall? Protecting prisoners’ right to education. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 69, 100530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2022.100530 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). SAGE. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Czerniawski, G. (2022). The education of incarcerated children: Blurring the borders between freedom and imprisonment. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003166207 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Eizadirad, A., & Chambers, T.-N. G. (2023). Experiences of learners who are incarcerated with accessing educational opportunities in Ontario, Canada. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 23(1), 31–45. https://doi.org/10.33423/jhetp.v23i1.579 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Farley, H., Pike, A., Demiray, U., & Tanglang, N. (2016). Delivering digital higher education into prisons: The cases of four universities in Australia, UK, Turkey and Nigeria. Chinese Journal of Distance Education, 7(26), 26–43. https://doi.org/10.13541/j.cnki.chinade.20160726.008 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Flick, U. (2018). An introduction to qualitative research (6th ed.). SAGE. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Goode, W. J. (1960). A theory of role strain. American Sociological Review, 25(4), 483–496. https://doi.org/10.2307/2092933 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Hopkins, S., & Farley, H. (2014). A prisoners’ island: Teaching Australian incarcerated students in the digital age. Journal of Prison Education and Reentry, 1(1), 42–51. https://doi.org/10.15845/jper.v1i1.631 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Israel, M., & Hay, I. (2006). Research ethics for social scientists. SAGE. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Kim, R. H., & Clark, D. (2013). The effect of prison-based college education programs on recidivism: Propensity score matching approach. Journal of Criminal Justice, 41(3), 196–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2013.03.001 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (1987). The leadership challenge: How to get extraordinary things done in organizations. Jossey-Bass. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2015). InterViews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing (3rd ed.). Sage Publications. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. SAGE. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. Lollara, J., Mueller, C. L., & Anthony, W. (2023). Students in correctional education: Developmental education’s forgotten population. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 53(3), 170–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/10790195.2023.2204315 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

26. Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

27. Montenegro, D. A. (2021). Reaching at-risk student populations during a pandemic: The impacts of COVID-19 on prison education. Frontiers in Communication, 6, 604963. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.604963 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

28. Orb, A., Eisenhauer, L., & Wynaden, D. (2001). Ethics in qualitative research. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 33(1), 93–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1547-5069.2001.00093.x [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

29. Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (4th ed.). SAGE. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

30. Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (1978). The external control of organizations: A resource dependence perspective. Harper & Row. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

31. Republic Act No. 10575. (2013). An Act strengthening the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and providing funds therefor. Official Gazette. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2013/05/29/republic-act-no-10575/ [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

32. Reisdorf, B. C., & DeCook, J. R. (2022). Locked up and left out: Formerly incarcerated people in the context of digital inclusion. New Media & Society, 24(2), 478–495. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211063178 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

33. Sanjari, M., Bahramnezhad, F., Fomani, F. K., Shoghi, M., & Cheraghi, M. A. (2014). Ethical challenges of researchers in qualitative studies: The necessity to develop a specific guideline. Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, 7, 14. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

34. Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. SAGE. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

35. Tzatsis, P., Anagnou, E., Valkanos, E., & Fragkoulis, I. (2019). The profile of the inmates’ adult educator: A Greek case study. Education Quarterly Reviews, 2(1), 122–134. https://doi.org/10.31014/aior.1993.02.01.45 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

36. United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

37. United Nations. (1966). International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-economic-social-and-cultural-rights [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

38. United Nations. (2015). United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules). https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/Nelson_Mandela_Rules-E-ebook.pdf [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

39. Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• Assessment of the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Repositioning TVET for Economic Development in Nigeria
• Teachers’ Use of Assure Model Instructional Design on Learners’ Problem Solving Efficacy in Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya
• “E-Booksan Ang Kaalaman”: Development, Validation, and Utilization of Electronic Book in Academic Performance of Grade 9 Students in Social Studies
• Analyzing EFL University Students’ Academic Speaking Skills Through Self-Recorded Video Presentation
• Major Findings of The Study on Total Quality Management in Teachers’ Education Institutions (TEIs) In Assam – An Evaluative Study