After last year’s general election there was a flurry of activity on prisons.
Ministers were appointed and a series of emergency measures were announced to address the prison capacity crisis. Select committees – made up of MPs or Lords – were formed to scrutinise the work.
At PET we wrote to ministers and select committee members to highlight the importance of prison education and we published our own briefing setting out 10 priorities for the new government.
Then everything went quiet, as everyone bedded in and worked out what needed to happen next. This relative period of calm couldn’t last and in the first few months of this year we have been busier than ever as we responded to a myriad of opportunities to influence the future direction of prison education policy.
Earning early release through education
The first, and arguably most important, opportunity was the government-commissioned Independent Sentencing Review, chaired by former Justice Secretary David Gauke. Its recommendations, due this Spring, are expected to set the agenda for sentencing reform for the rest of this parliament.
Sentencing issues are largely outside PET’s remit but the review was also keen to look at how people progress through the prison system, with both Gauke and the prisons minister Lord Timpson interested in incentivising people to participate in purposeful activity through early “earned” release models common in the US.
Our submission therefore focused on whether people in prison should be able to earn early release by participating in education. Our answer was a cautious “yes”: in principle we support the idea of incentivising people to take part in education and early release is about the strongest incentive there could be.
But – and it’s a pretty sizeable but – there is no point in encouraging people to take part in education if there isn’t the capacity to enable them to do so.
Before introducing any such scheme, it would therefore be essential to tackle current failures in the provision of prison education and make sure that the funding is available to meet a surge in demand. Incentivising people to participate and then not enabling them to do so would be a recipe for disaster.
Making the case for investment
In addition, we have submitted evidence to four select committee inquiries so far this year, with one more due this week.
Select committee inquiries are investigations into specific topics and their reports make recommendations to the government, to which the government are required to respond. For PET, submitting evidence to these inquiries is an opportunity to advocate for prison education and to promote our priorities and recommendations.
The first inquiry that we have submitted evidence to, run by the Justice Select Committee, is on rehabilitation and resettlement.
Our written evidence highlighted the importance of prison education and the widespread and well-known issues with what is currently available. We argued for a greater focus on improving the quality of education provision, greater availability of in-cell digital technology and access to the internet, and more investment in recruiting and retaining the best teachers. I was able to reiterate and reinforce these points when I gave evidence in person earlier this month – you can watch the session here.
We have also submitted written evidence to an inquiry run by the Public Accounts Committee on prison capacity. Our evidence highlighted the importance of considering capacity in education departments, not just the number of cells, when planning for the future.
It was positive to see our evidence cited in the committee’s report, with a recommendation calling on the Ministry of Justice and HMPPS to set out how they intend to evaluate the impact of prison capacity pressures on education. The government now has until the middle of May to respond.
Creating a culture of learning
People in prison frequently tell us how important a positive learning environment is. That’s why we submitted evidence to an inquiry on prison culture, held by the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee. Our evidence to this inquiry considered culture through an education lens and focused on how prison leadership and staffing can create a culture of learning.
Our final evidence submission of the year so far was to the Education Select Committee’s inquiry on further education and skills. They haven’t published our submission yet, and it’s convention not to discuss your evidence until they have. We also have another one in the pipeline, responding to the Welsh Affairs Committee’s inquiry on prisons in Wales. Keep an eye on our social media and newsletter to find out when they’re published.
Bringing the prison crisis to an end
Each of these inquiries is an important chance for PET, and the people in prison we advocate for, to have our say. It’s a chance to make sure that prison education is on the new government’s agenda.
Over 35 years we have built up considerable expertise on prison education. My colleagues – including PET’s Lived Experience Consultants – are incredibly knowledgeable. By sharing what we know with policymakers at Westminster, we make sure they understand that education is central to improving the justice system and bringing the prison crisis to an end.
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