The education available is not exactly sufficient. At least in my County Jail experience, it was awful. The books were scribbled on, some pages ripped out, things like that.
Prisons are too comfortable. I have a close relative who's been in prison for nearly 8 yrs. They've been in about five different prisons and yes, you lose your freedom, and that's a tough pill to swallow, but after you get over that, it's not that bad. When I did my five months, the first two months were hell, but after that, I had fun. I didn't have to pay bills, didn't have to worry about anything other than shower time.
When I say prisons contain inmates, it's true, for the most part. There's little to no reforming going on unless you can self reform, which if you're parole eligible you can express your remorse and attempt to display your reform to the board and hope they buy into it. One issue is the longer you spend in prison, the harder it is to adapt to your new life. That's what it is too, it's a new life. You spend nearly every hour thinking you'll do this, do that, do better at this, improve that, etc... and once you get out you realize the world has changed and that's exciting, and scary at the same time. You question, how do I fit in? I have to provide my three hots now, I have to provide my cot now. I don't have someone telling me what to do and when to do it.
Inmates break the law because they couldn't live in society under the current laws, right? So then we put them with dozens of others who similarly could not adhere to the laws, what do should we expect from then when they get out?
Monkey see, monkey do. Criminals learn how to be better criminals when all they are surrounded with is other criminals. They are not given positive direction that they've lacked which led them to their incarceration.
I don't have a sure fire answer to reform inmates, all I know is from my personal experience, the system as it stands does the bare minimum and expects miracles.
I was locked up for over 5 months when I was 20. I hated being away from family and friends. My court/release date kept getting messed around with. I got set up and lost all of my books, canteen, clothes, all the things I bought. The guards took my books. I know because I seen one of them reading it and I had my name big black letters on the barcode on the back cover. After awhile I didn't care anymore, I was going to make the most out of it. I became the "pod" clown. I entertained everyone. I learned I was one of the smartest (of the idiots) in there. That's not being arrogant, I proved it repeatedly and loved it, until I realized being the smartest idiot meant nothing. I learned everyone's tell, I learned more card games than I knew existed and I dominated them in their own game under their own rules. I learned how to make people back down, even if they were twice my size. I made a choice, I didn't belong there. I was better than they were and knew it. I was the only one out of 16 men who openly admitted he failed obeying the law. Every one of them made excuses. It was beyond insane. I vowed to never go back. I vowed to be a better man in society. I more importantly vowed to never let myself be one of them.
I feel the difference between most of them and myself was a clear understanding of right and wrong and ability to accept accountability for my failures. Sure, I did a lot when I was younger, made a lot of mistakes and knew I had to grow up. I didn't make excuses, I did my time. I changed myself, ME, not the system. I observed others, I heard their stories, I heard their excuses. Men twice my age couldn't admit a single fault. One may argue that WAS the system at work. I disagree. I was there, they didn't give a shit about me. When I was being released, one of the guards said "you'll be back slim". I shot out a cocky grin an said "hell you will".
My motivation came from wanting to be a better man, better father, where do they get their motivation from? I believe mine came from how I was raised. How can we expect inmates to behave as such if they were never shown or taught self pride, dignity, maturity, responsibility, accountability?