The national recidivism rate is 66 percent within three to five years of release from prison.
In 2005 it had a recidivism rate of 75 percent.
The study's control group had a recidivism rate of 20%.
The recidivism rate for the general release population of prisoners is over 50 percent in the same time period.
"We saw that whether an individual served jail time had little impact on the recidivism rate."
The officials say there are many reasons for the high recidivism rate, several of which have nothing to do with education.
The recidivism rate is at least 50 percent, he says.
The recidivism rate for released prisoners over the age of 45 is only 2.1 percent.
"We need to give similar services a chance to provide a better education program, so that the recidivism rate will be lower," he said.
The drug treatment programs are thought to be associated with lower recidivism rates.