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Decreases to educational programs within prisons are impeding prisoners' work and training options, eventually posing a risk to community security, per a new report from a prison oversight agency.

Cycle of Repeat Crimes Linked to Shortage of Training

Habitual criminals often cause disorder in their communities due to the failure of prisons to offer adequate education and employment programs that could help disrupt the pattern of reoffending, the findings indicated.

I hold significant concerns about the impact of real-terms education budget cuts on already insufficient provision and about the lack of genuine appetite and ambition for progress that this represents.”

Budget Cuts Endanger Reform Efforts

Despite commitments to improve access to education, spending on direct educational programs in correctional institutions is being reduced by up to 50%, per recent disclosures.

Although the total training allocation has remained unchanged, the cost of course contracts has soared, as claimed by correctional administrators.

• Just 31% of ex- prisoners are employed six months after release
• Ninety-four of 104 closed prisons were rated “inadequate” or “not sufficiently good” for purposeful activity
• Average attendance in training programs was just 67% in inspected institutions

Inadequate Conditions Impede Rehabilitation

Overcrowding, a lack of training space, equipment breakdowns, and aging infrastructure have compounded the situation, per the report.

Numerous inmates remain for extended periods to be assigned an training space and are often assigned whatever is open, instead of training applicable to their career prospects upon leaving.

Even when activities proceeded, full-time positions generally occupied prisoners for just a limited time per day, with many positions split into partial places to stretch limited provision further.

Official Response and Upcoming Plans

Correctional service has a duty to protect the public by making prisoners less inclined to commit crimes again when they are released, but too often it is failing to fulfill this responsibility.

The best administrators understand that jails, and ultimately our society, are more secure if inmates are purposefully engaged, and that training, skill development and work play a vital role in motivating inmates to reform.

“We know that meaningful engagement can help to enable safe and decent correctional facilities and have a positive impact on reoffending levels.”

Until officials in the prison service take the provision of high-quality education and training more seriously, it is hard to see how appallingly high recidivism levels can be lowered.

Funding reductions are also likely to impede initiatives to introduce a new reward-driven correctional system that would enable inmates to earn time off their sentence by completing employment, training and learning courses.