Without immediate action to reinstate education in prisons, people will return to their communities “deskilled, disillusioned and discouraged”, according to Prisoners’ Education Trust’s Head of Policy, Francesca Cooney.
Cooney’s comments were made in response to today’s publication of the Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke’s annual report, which details the conditions and treatment of prisoners in establishments in England and Wales.
Inspectors found widespread poor performance in the area of purposeful activity, which “sits at the heart of whether a prison can offer a safe, decent and rehabilitative environment”.
Commenting on the report, Cooney said:
“As this report highlights, since March many prisoners have been locked up in cells for 23 hours a day, with no activities or face-to-face education. This situation is unsustainable and stops prisoners being able to develop the skills they need to resettle successfully.
“As we see in the community, there are ways of delivering face-to-face and online education safely, yet prisoners currently have no classes, no access to the internet, and no means to do assessments or take exams. Pushing worksheets through a cell door is not enough: more must be done to support learning and help prisoners progress with their studies.
“It is now essential that prisons do what they can to reduce restrictions and reinstate education for prisoners.
“The prison service must take immediate steps to offer face-to-face education under safe, socially distanced measures. Where this is not possible, they must allow organisations such as Prisoners’ Education Trust to offer quality distance learning, with the chance for assessment and progression.
“Prisons must also ensure controlled internet access to support studying and rehabilitation. Without this, the digital divide will become a chasm, as prisoner learners miss out on developing digital literacy skills.
“The Chief Inspector’s report makes clear that ‘with the almost complete lack of work, training or education’, frustrations are ‘beginning to build’ in our prisons.
“Without immediate action, people will return to their communities deskilled, disillusioned and discouraged, having not had the chance to complete their education and work towards a better life after prison. Education cannot be an optional extra.”
Notes to editors
- The Chief Inspector of Prisons provides independent scrutiny of detention in England and Wales through carrying out announced and unannounced inspections of detention facilities. His annual report, published today, can be found here.
- Prisoners’ Education Trust (PET) is a charity working across every prison in England and Wales. Last year we helped people in prison start just over 1,700 courses across 200 different subjects and levels – from GCSEs and vocational courses to the start of degrees. We also carry out policy work, evaluating the quality of and access to prison education.
- For interviews or further information please email Calum Walker, Media and Communications Manager, or call on 07824 189661.
- Ofsted inspects prison education. No prison education was judged as outstanding this year. 10 were judged as good, but in 26 prisons, education was not good enough.
- Even before lockdown, Ofsted said that in many prisons the range of activities and education was too limited. Outside of the lockdown, attendance at classes is a perennial problem with many prisons having too few staff to ensure prisoners get to classes.
- Only 44% of prisoners said that staff encouraged them to go to education, training or work. Ofsted judged that teaching was good enough in only 4 out of 10 prisons inspected during the year.