The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two adult basic reading programs, Direct Instruction Corrective Reading Decoding and Laubach Literacy, on the reading achievement of incarcerated male adults (n = 27) in an Alabama prison. Participants were tutors and students taking part in a reading tutoring program at the facility. The student participants were reading below the 5th grade level precluding them from participating in the General Equivalency Diploma (GED) program. Instruction by the tutors was implemented over a six month period. Data in the areas of basic literacy (e.g., word identification, word attack, and reading comprehension) were collected using the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test- Revised/NU. Results indicated that neither program was superior, though all participants, students and tutors, significantly improved in one or more area of the basic literacy. (Contains 3 tables.)