The impacts of religious and moral education in prisons on prisoner behaviors (Izmir case)

We live in an age in which the evil in the world is becoming increasingly widespread and people are easily involved in crime. Over the years, the increase in crime rates and the increase in the diversity of crime necessitates a social struggle to prevent crime, which is a social phenomenon. Criminals must be imprisoned and punished, and rehabilitated and reintegrated into society. Religion and Ethics education is important for the convicts to be purified by experiencing the regret of the crime they committed and to return to life after the conviction by being reformed with education and awareness of responsibility. Religious and moral education should be provided to prisoners in order to raise their religious knowledge, to help them improve their spiritual development and to regret the crimes they have committed. Religious and moral education in penal institutions contributes to prisoners' adaptation to prisons, while at the same time contributing to the rehabilitation of prisoners and their adaptation to social life after release. Religious and Moral Education and Spiritual Guidance studies are very important for the improvement of the convicts by improving them, informing them about religious and moral issues, regretting the crimes they are convicted, and returning them as a useful and harmonious person after the prison. Therefore, the contribution of the Religious and Moral Education in prisons to the hopeful attachment of perpetrators to life, their effects on preventing crime on different criminal groups and their religious qualifications before entering prison need to be determined to prevent crime. In this context, in order to see the effects of Religious and Moral education on prisoners' behavior in prisons, we decided to undertake such research in order to understand the contribution of Religion and Morality education to life after prison in our interviews with a sample group of convicts who have received this education in prisons. Our research was shaped according to the results of our interviews with jailer. The research consists of an introduction and three parts. In the introduction, the problem, aim, importance, assumptions, scope and limitations of the research, studies on the field, method and technique of the research are discussed. In the first chapter, some concepts related to religious and moral education are explained. In addition, the contribution of religious and moral values education to human life, its impact on individual and social development, its effects on disadvantaged groups and the history of religious education in prisons are emphasized. In the second part, religious and moral trainings carried out in prisons, the need for religious and moral education, the perception of religion in prisoners, the effect of religious and moral education in preventing crime again, the qualifications of religious officials working in prisons are examined. In the third part, the studies conducted with the participants in and out of the prison and the results of the interviews were evaluated. In this semi-structured qualitative study, we tried to understand the effects of religious and moral education in prison on prisoner behaviors as a result of our observations and interviews on sample group. Cosequently, religious and moral education in prisons positively affects the behaviour of prisoners. Keywords: Religion, Morality, Ethics, Prison, Prisoner, Convict, Value.