Prisoners are teaching each other to read. Here's how it's changing life behind bars amid a crisis

The ongoing prison crisis makes difficult reading. Thousands of prisoners have been released early because there simply isn’t any room and many will end up back inside. But the number of prisoners who can’t read is a part of the problem that flies under the radar.

Shannon Trust, a charity that supports prisoners to help other inmates to read, said 67% of the prison population either can’t read at all or read at a level below age 11.

It’s an issue that can lead to people reoffending when they leave prison, without the hopes of landing a job or being able to sort out bills or any of life’s other essentials, or even facing homelessness.

It’s likely to be a problem that persists. With more than 2,000 prisoners released early to clear prison spaces in England and Wales, time spent on teaching prisoners to read is likely to suffer.

In a damning report released earlier this month, Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons, warned a rise in the number of prisoners in the future leaves little opportunity to focus on this small but crucial element of rehabilitation.

“Most jails already fail to give prisoners enough to do and population increases are likely to make things worse,” said Taylor. 

“If prisoners leave prison without having learnt the skills and habits that will help them to hold down a job, if they are not being taught to read, if they are being sold drugs without support to break their addiction and if they continue to live in environments in which violence is commonplace, prisons will fail in their duty to prevent future reoffending.”

Charities like Shannon Trust are working with the Ministry of Justice to fill the gap.

Shannon Trust’s representatives are visible in over 100 prisons wearing blue t-shirts and offering two schemes: Turning Pages boosts literacy while Count Me In is designed to improve numeracy.

The charity trains prisoners to teach each other inmates to read through a one-to-one, peer-led scheme. That means learning can happen anywhere and breaks down the barriers of educational trauma many prisoners may have faced from a classroom setting.

“When someone can learn to read it opens so many doors to them for employment, education, whether that’s formal education in prison or when they come out,” said Shannon Trust’s Amy Longstaff.

“And there are all sorts of benefits to do with things like mental health, self-esteem, confidence, that kind of thing.”

William Flanagan is a prison officer on the drug recovery wing at HMP Featherstone and has worked with Shannon Trust for more than two years. That involves signposting suitable mentors and candidates to the Shannon Trust programmes as well as encouraging inmates to see the value of getting involved.

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Flanagan told the Big Issue that the peer-led focus on Shannon Trust’s programmes is vital for inmates who might have difficult relationships with authority.

“It’s massive [to have prisoners teaching other prisoners] because, especially for a lot of the men in our care that have been in the system most of their adult life,” said Flanagan.

“I can say all the right things, give them all the tools. But to those that have been in and out I’m always going to be a white shirt whereas you’ve got the lads that have been there, done that, got the lived experience of it and can lean on their own lived experience to help other people in their journey.

“It’s crucial because it’s kind of: been there, done that, got the blue t-shirt.”

Improving literacy will not end the prisons crisis on its own – increased capacity through new prisons to keep up with projected prisoner numbers is required.

But, especially as prison sentences have increased generally since the 90s, according to chief inspector Taylor, every tool to prevent reoffending must be used to help prisoners flourish in society when they are released.

For prisons to provide the rehabilitation they should, programmes that help boost literacy and numeracy are vital, according to Flanagan.

“There’s a lot of stigma around the prison service, it is kind of like the forgotten service and it’s very much a case of just counting heads and locking doors. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I generally believe that there’s a massive rehabilitative culture that we’re trying to build here,” he added.

“I think charities like the Shannon Trust are massively involved in that. At the end of the day, this is someone’s dad, someone’s son, someone’s brother and seeing them go through the process more and get out of the community is immensely rewarding. 

“I take a great deal of pride in the sense that, even if it’s just little incremental steps, you’re bettering people’s lives here. You’re getting people back in contact with the children, getting people like getting out of the community to contribute to society and taking a great deal of pride in that. It’s massive. It’s genuinely instrumental to what we do.”

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