Cameo
09-21-2002, 10:38 PM
September 21, 2002
Education gives prisoners chances
From the Chairman of the Prisoners' Education Trust
Sir, Dick Whitfield, Chairman of the Howard League for Penal Reform, makes the point well that there is a reservoir of talent in prison (T2, September 17). The Prisoners’ Education Trust recognised several years ago that around one third of the prison population was literate and numerate but that an educational desert lay before them for the term of their imprisonment.
Over the last three years the trust has raised enough funds to provide annually around 700 distance learning courses to men and women in prison of both an academic and vocational nature. These have varied from Open University courses to Grade 8 in music, from hairdressing to plumbing and welding, from languages to horticulture. But with the prison population currently above 70,000, we are woefully short of the wherewithal to provide courses for all those who apply to us and who want to spend their time usefully. Only this month our request to the Department of Education and Skills for additional funding to provide Open University level one courses was turned down flat.
All but a very few of those in prison will one day be released into the community. Education gives a chance to those who want to lead a new life and it should be on offer for those who wish to benefit from it.
Yours faithfully,
PAUL MAXLOW-TOMLINSON,
Chairman,
Prisoners’ Education Trust,
Ground Floor,
Wandle House, Riverside Drive,
Mitcham, Surrey CR4 4SU.
September 18.
Education gives prisoners chances
From the Chairman of the Prisoners' Education Trust
Sir, Dick Whitfield, Chairman of the Howard League for Penal Reform, makes the point well that there is a reservoir of talent in prison (T2, September 17). The Prisoners’ Education Trust recognised several years ago that around one third of the prison population was literate and numerate but that an educational desert lay before them for the term of their imprisonment.
Over the last three years the trust has raised enough funds to provide annually around 700 distance learning courses to men and women in prison of both an academic and vocational nature. These have varied from Open University courses to Grade 8 in music, from hairdressing to plumbing and welding, from languages to horticulture. But with the prison population currently above 70,000, we are woefully short of the wherewithal to provide courses for all those who apply to us and who want to spend their time usefully. Only this month our request to the Department of Education and Skills for additional funding to provide Open University level one courses was turned down flat.
All but a very few of those in prison will one day be released into the community. Education gives a chance to those who want to lead a new life and it should be on offer for those who wish to benefit from it.
Yours faithfully,
PAUL MAXLOW-TOMLINSON,
Chairman,
Prisoners’ Education Trust,
Ground Floor,
Wandle House, Riverside Drive,
Mitcham, Surrey CR4 4SU.
September 18.