Are Prisons Really Built Based on Elemenatry Reading Levels?

I've shared this fun fact on several occasions. It's one we often hear in the field of education but don't really know where it comes from. I heard it first from a professor from the College of Education. Politicians cite this fact, including Hilary Clinton and Colin Powell, and there are many people who will validate this claim because they've heard it so many times as well.

http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2013/jul/16/kathleen-ford/kathleen-ford-says-private-prisons-use-third-grade/

Turns out its not that simple. There's no designated official who annually gathers reading data from third graders, and reports to city planners on how much prison space will be needed based on this information alone. I'm not sure it would be much less, effective, however.

Its not new news that education is a very effective tool to predict incarceration rates. Crime rates have been linked to a lack of education for a very long time. One report claims a 5% increase in the graduation of high-school males would save our nation 18.5 billion dollars in crime costs. In addition to saving us money, it would prevent 10's of thousands of cases of assault, larceny, auto theft and burglary each as well as a couple thousand murders, rapes, and robberies.

http://all4ed.org/press/crime-rates-linked-to-educational-attainment-new-alliance-report-finds/

So why is it, when the government needs money to fund Zika research, mad cow disease, or the bird flu, they dip from public education?

I can't help but feel education is being withheld to an extent. I look at the complexity of the district zoning map, and wonder why it is that this diverse nation has so many public schools with over 90% of the students of the same race and socioeconomic background. Why is it that when areas shift in demographics, it creates problems in the schools?

I'm sure there are many theories. One documentary claims that after Jim Crow laws ended, prison was a way to extend slave labor by incarcerating all of the black males and making them work in the prisons for free, or next to nothing. Black males were arrested by the bus load for crimes as small as loitering, destroying the black family, and criminalizing the majority of black males.

Although education and incarceration is more complex than just racial issue, there must be an explanation for why a 10% population has 40% of the nation's expulsions. Why do 1/3 of black men end up being incarcerated in their lifetime? We prepare them with suspensions, expulsions, and even school arrests at a very young age. By the time they have graduated, or decided high school is not worth the time, they are familiar with being in the system of corrections.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/education-under-arrest/school-to-prison-pipeline-fact-sheet/