Erwin James

Most offenders have low skills and prison is the place to put that right. A report out today says education and training programmes should be an integral part of time served in prison and should be included in the sentencing process
The Guardian, Wednesday 3 February 2010
 

In any walk of life skills are the key to economic and social success. Which without any shadow of a doubt is one of the main reasons our prisons are so full. Official statistics show that 52% of male offenders and 72% of female offenders have no qualifications whatsoever. Almost half of all prisoners have literacy skills at or below level 1 and nearly two thirds have the same difficulties with regard to numeracy skills. It also seems pertinent to me that 67% were unemployed at the time of their imprisonment. While I agree there is no excuse for causing harm or distress to others, the fact that the skill levels of so many of those who inhabit our jails are so low has to have some relevance in determining what it is that drives their offending and, equally importantly, their re-offending. Almost 90% of prisoners under the age of 21 and nearly two thirds of adult prisoners re-offend within two years – and the economic cost to society remains in the region of £11bn per annum. Surely somebody needs to answer for this mind-bogglingly expensive failure of such a valuable social institution?

A little help is at hand from today, in a report entitled, Doing Things Differently, which is launched this afternoon by the National Skills Forum, led by Gordon Marsden MP and Jacqui Henderson. The NSF began its inquiry into the economic and social costs of skills deficiency last year, focusing on three socially excluded groups: black and minority ethnic people, offenders/ex-offenders and disabled people. Though the needs of the three groups and the way they identify themselves are clearly different, the impact of their lack of access to skill development programmes is pretty much the same. The discrimination they suffer too is the same, according to the report, due to, "stereotypical assumptions, which stifle potential by perpetuating low aspiration".

There are many recommendations in the report which, if taken up and worked upon, will make huge inroads towards making our society a more inclusive and successful environment for all the groups. But the recommendations that, I think, have the greatest potential – and which happen to be the simplest — are those directed at the Ministry of Justice. The reports suggests that ways should be explored for including education and training programmes in the sentencing process. There should be a culture change in the prison system so that education and training are integral elements of time to be served. Careers information and advice services in prisons should be aware of the full range of opportunities available and should promote their availability to prisoners. There should be an expansion of the "virtual campus" and perhaps, which would have the most impact of all, there should be more contact with prospective employers, using "exemplar employers" such as the National Grid or Timpsons, the shoe manufacturer that has a workshop in Wandsworth prison, to give others the confidence to take on those who have offended.

If the MoJ wants to make prisons more effective for victims, potential future victims and for offenders who really want to change their lives for the better, then this report should not be ignored.