Education, Education, Education!

A recent article published in the Times Educational Supplement (re-printed below), highlighted the dire state of education in the juvenile prison system. Unfortunately, it is not only the school aged offender who is suffering, but the majority of people held in adult establishments too.

All too often the first casualty, if there is the slightest chance of a shortage of officers, is education. The reasoning is simple. In closed prisons there has to be an officer who supervises education. This is because neither the inmates nor those who teach them are trusted. Not just at degree level, but basic reading and writing - the bones of all further learning. Where it is provided. it can be haphazard, depending as it does on staff availability.

The other problem is lack of space in which to teach. The majority of older prisons were built to remove liberty and restrict freedom, not to enable inmates to improve their lives and job chances through education.

B T G carried out a survey into the provision of pre-release courses. Over 30 prisons were approached, two answered positively. The others said that the problem was none of their concern/ there was not the staff/ it was nothing to do with them and besides which there was no funding. With this attitude, is it any wonder that so many released prisoners do re-offend?

Martin Narey was recently asked by a charity that helps ex-offenders when the current discharge grant would be raised. His reply showed very little knowledge of the present system. Being in receipt of a Social Fund Loan (which must be paid back and is therefore a debt) or a grant is not the best option for someone trying to start afresh.

Help is needed from the first day over that threshold. Whether it be in the form of education or just ensuring a home to go to, or at best just a roof over their head. All too often a released person feels very abandoned and let down by the state.

It is so easy to say that those who offend are in prison through their own fault. But to keep them out then they should have the help that they need.

© James Stevens-Turner, August 2001

Inside story of neglect (Article published in the Times Educational Supplement 20 July 2001)

School-aged offenders in prison get a sub-standard education, says a study by the Howard League for Penal Reform, to be published next month.

Poorly-qualified teachers, inadequate assessment of offenders' capabilities, classes disrupted by prison routines, and a lack of continuity with education before or after a sentence are among the catalogue of inadequacies uncovered.

The study involved 84 out of 268 15-year-old boys held in juvenile prison units in England. Researcher Lorraine Atkinson said: "Little attention is being paid to the educational needs of children in prison. This means they are less likely to achieve their full potential and more likely to re-offend - particularly since these boys will have difficulties finding jobs because of their lack of qualifications."

More than 300 boys and girls under the school-leaving age are currently in juvenile prison units. In all, 3,000 15 to 18 year olds are held in these units which, because they are classed as prisons, are under no statutory obligation to educate inmates.

The study says the situation is better in 'secure units' run by the Department of Health where about 120 10 to 17 year olds are held. In these, education plays a central role and children are taught by qualified staff.

In Scotland, no one under 17 is held in a young offenders' institution, the equivalent of juvenile prison units. There, all younger teenagers in custody are in secure units.

"Prisons receive less funding than secure units," Ms Atkinson told a conference on prison education at the University of Abertay in Dundee last week.

"It is not surprising then that prisons are not able to offer the same standard of education - or that boys in prison do not have the same educational opportunities as those in secure units or in the community."

Most of the boys in the study - to be published on August 1st - were in prison for robbery or car crime. Many had a disrupted and negative experience of school education. But a third had actually been attending school or college full-time and were studying for external exams

. "Heads of education said they did try to ensure these boys continued with their examination coursework but in reality this was difficult and in may cases impossible - mainly because of the limited curriculum on offer or because the boys had to move between units," Ms Atkinson said.

Prison teachers lacked the experience or qualifications to teach boys of school age, she added. They were also isolated from fellow professionals working in secondary schools. "They have few professional links with them and did not attend in-service training," she said.

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