The paper present a sub-study included in a curriculum theory project on targeted socialization within two institutions of major importance for the Nordic welfare states enculturation, universities and prisons. We compare the relationship between supervisor/doctoral student and correctional contact persons/inmates. There are some apparent differences between these two contexts. Universities are mostly discussed in terms of socialization and learning, prisons more often as institutions where inmates are in need of re-socialization whether they approve or not. Students enter doctoral education as a result of a qualified meritocratic selection process, and success will produce holders of the highest exam possible. Inmates qualify for prison by being convicted for a crime in a court of law, and are deprived of their liberty as they are incarcerated. In addition, prison has a mixed purpose of being about retribution and deterrence, as well as rehabilitation. In this substudy we compare aspects of targeted (re)-socialization processes, from a curriculum theory perspective, regarding the two relationships mentioned above. In other words, the tutoring relationship between tutors and tutees in the contexts of doctoral education and inmate rehabilitation. We pay special attention to the transactions of knowledge, norms, values and identities offered in both cases. The empirical material consists of policy-texts on a national (laws for prisons/ probation, higher education and policy-texts concerning the correctional contact persons)-and a local level (enforcement plans, individual study planes and policy-texts concerning PhD supervision). Preliminary results of this sub-study is that the targeted (re)-socialization process of these two activities have both similarities and difference. This opens up for further research questions on how similarities are played out through the differences between the two institutions in objectives and contents (curriculum), educational forms (pedagogy) and assessment activities (evaluation).