Prison(er) Education: Stories of Change and Transformation

A major collection of writings about the transforming power of education in British prisons. Prison(er) Education comprises key essays by leading prison education practitioners, academics and prisoners, including new work on how to evaluate the 'success' of education within prison by Dr Ray Pawson of Leeds University, and Stephen Duguid of Simon Fraser University, Canada. A major challenge to penal policy-makers to accept the value of education - beyond 'basic skills', and at a time when prison regimes have come to be dominated by cognitive thinking skills courses. Edited by two leading experts on prison education in the United Kingdom - Professor David Wilson of the University of Central England (a former prison governor and co-presenter of BBC TV's Crime Squad), and Dr Anne Reuss of the University of Abertay (who previously taught at HM Prison Full Sutton). Weaving anecdote, research and evaluation, Prison(er) Education presents for the first time a comprehensive account of education inside British prisons. At the heart of the book lies the question 'Who is prison education for: prison or prisoners?' This book is a major challenge to penal policy-makers to accept the value of education - beyond 'basic skills', and at a time when regimes have come to be dominated by cognitive thinking skills courses. Weaving anecdote with solid research and evaluation, the book presents for the first time in Britain a comprehensive account of education inside prisons. Reviews 'Highly authoritative . . . a major challenge': Inside Time 'This book will be of interest to anyone working in the Prison Service, and to educators in general... Non-academic staff will recognise the conflicts, constraints, and challenges, that teachers and learners face...': Sally Bishens, Prison Service Journal 'A diverse, informative survey... of great importance in more ways then can easily be listed': Michael McMullan, Justice of the Peace Editors Prison(er) Education is introduced and concluded by David Wilson and Anne Reuss (who also contributes a chapter on 'Conducting Research in Prisons') with their vision of the direction education in prison should take in the years to come. David Wilson is professor of criminology at the Centre for Criminal Justice Policy and Research at the University of Central England in Birmingham. A former prison governor, he is editor of the Howard Journal and a well-known author, broadcaster and presenter for TV and radio, including for the BBC, C4 and Sky Television. He has written three other books for Waterside Press: The Longest Injustice: The Strange Story of Alex Alexandrowicz (with the latter), Images of Incarceration: Representations of Prison in Film and Television Drama (with Sean O'Sullivan) (2004), and Serial Killers: Hunting Britons and Their Victims 1960-2006 (2007). Dr Anne Reuss lectures in the Sociology Department of the University of Abertay in Scotland. Prior to taking up this appointment, she taught degree level sociology to prisoners at HMP Full Sutton, which formed the basis of her doctoral dissertation - now regarded as the benchmark of research in this field.