Learning behind bars: time to liberate prison education

With more prisons being built and the accompanying rise in prison population, the efficacious role of prison education is becoming increasingly important. Having been sidelined in the past, the education of prisoners is now receiving closer Government attention in the UK. The discourse of prison education mirrors the instrumental approach of learning for work taken by the Government, because the primary task expected of prison education is to increase the chances of employment by ex-offenders and hence reduce recidivism. If this link were established it may convince policy makers, prison staff and inmates of the further benefits of prison education. Hence, prison education could be liberated by loosening its constraints of providing mainly basic skills classes, to becoming integrated within all prison activities and by having more involvement with the outside community.