Education and training programs should be available to every person who would benefit from such programs during his or her incarceration. As a practical matter, however, corrections resources are often so limited that appropriate work and education programming is not available for all. Given this reality, corrections officials will need to prioritize their service delivery.

One way to prioritize is according to imminence of release dates: Those who are closest to re-entering the community might receive the bulk of any available services, particularly the more targeted, expensive, occupational preparation programs. Alternatively, corrections staff might prioritize training for individuals who entered the facility with the least skills generally. In a similar vein, corrections staff could again examine the skills needed for available jobs in the local community and prioritize the prisoners who are most lacking in those marketable skills.

It is hoped that educational and vocational services will be available for and tailored to each individual. Insofar as there are resource constraints, however, corrections administrators must have a thoughtful way to prioritize their services. The lack of resources should also compel corrections staff to creatively draw on resources from community volunteers or peer tutors, particularly for basic skills training, such as literacy tutoring.