The federal prison system provides a number of opportunities for inmates to further their education. These prospects can be made available at the prison and can include, college correspondence, the formal classroom, or at the inmate's cell in the special housing unit (SHU). While it is common for inmates to receive a more appropriate education at the education department where classrooms, students, and teachers are provided, SHU is a unique environment that limits inmate movement and the one-on-one interaction between students and teachers. As long as SHU inmates are held in SHU, they cannot officially test for the ABE, PGED, or GED, but they can participate in the SHU Educational Program where they can learn these subjects through these three programs, earn program points, and a certificate of completion so that when they do leave SHU and do return back to the classroom, they can quickly progress via these programs and earn their GED. Review of the literature was conducted through Google Scholar and ERIC and revealed a number of scholarly articles. It takes a special type of teacher to work with inmates to help them reach their educational goals. This paper reveals how teachers can create a teaching environment for SHU inmates as well as how to continuously create and maintain an effective environment to ensure that learning can continue.