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When it comes to the education system, most of us tend to have a rather traditional picture in our mind’s eye - a timeline from kindergarten to college and university, gradually increasing our skills in a classroom environment, surrounded by other children and young people our age who are working towards the same goals of ordering the wives of Henry VIII or trying to remember the quadratic formula.
What we don’t tend to think about prima facie are the non-traditional education environments, such as adult learning, specialist education and the education that goes on in prisons. However these are some of the most interesting and indeed, vital environments in which a flourishing of education can truly change lives; and today we’re exploring how raising literacy rates in just one of these environments can effect a huge shift in life chances and the ability to pursue jobs and careers.
The Relationship Between Literacy and the Prison Population
A study by the Shannon Trust found that around 50% of the prison population in the UK are what we call ‘functionally illiterate’. This means that they have a reading age of 11 or lower, and whilst they technically possess a level of reading and writing skills, these being weaker or less developed means that whilst reading a text message, simple leaflet or a road sign is a task that’s easily achievable, things like books, technical writing and examination paperwork may not be. 70% of these prisoners are assessed to have a chance of returning to prison if they do not receive adequate educational support, a figure which drops to 16% if they do.
It is estimated that between 5 and 10% of the population globally have dyslexia, although some studies put the figure slightly higher at around 15%. However a study of Texas prison inmates by the University of Texas Medical Branch estimated that approximately 80% of prisoners in a sample group struggled with their literacy skills, and that half were likely to be dyslexic. These findings were replicated in the US PIAAC Survey of Incarcerated Adults, which found that around a third of incarcerated people surveyed at 98 sample prisons struggled to be able to pick out basic words and information from a simple level text.
Most prisons do not currently have widespread dyslexia screening programmes, however there are some initiatives in the UK that are seeking to change this – they have yet to gain much traction, but it is hoped that when screening for conditions like dyslexia and ADHD become common in prison environments, it’ll become easier to make sure that people can access the support that they need to succeed in in-unit education.
Literacy and Life Chances
The statistics around childhood reading don’t make for happy knowledge. According to the National Literacy Trust, 25% of children leave primary school unable to read properly – and if this isn’t enough, that figure rises to around 40% for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. It’s also fairly likely to take another dip in the future, due to the impact of long-term school closures and increasing working poverty, which can lead to school leavers who are exiting education and going out into the world with low literacy skills - and this can make their lives more difficult in a number of ways.
Low literacy, and unsupported or undiagnosed dyslexia can mean that somebody may struggle to find employment – with the majority of job application processes being online and featuring fairly in-depth written applications, poor reading skill sets can mean these are difficult (or even impossible) to complete. Even entirely practical jobs require a moderate level of reading and writing skills in the modern era, due to health and safety procedure and the prevalence of cash handling in entry-level commercial roles, and many employers see candidates with low literacy as risky options. Similar struggles are experienced by people whose first language isn’t English – whilst they may be fluent in their multiple other languages, weak English skills can lead to difficulties in finding opportunities in the UK.
Having low literacy or unsupported or undiagnosed dyslexia can also mean that people find it difficult to apply for further education courses or industry skills and training, meaning that too as an avenue for further progression can be ‘walled off’. And there are social elements to the effects too: being unable to read with confidence can lead to people to feeling isolated and embarrassed, or even suffer from mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.
All of these factors mean that school leavers with low literacy can find themselves living below the poverty line, in areas with low life chances and socio-economic circumstances or struggling to make ends meet. And oftentimes these are some of the defining factors that will lead somebody towards committing an offence.
Why Does Education Have an Impact on Reoffending?
The simple answer is that a spell in prison doesn’t mean that the factors that have led an individual to commit an offence have been dealt with. If low literacy has been a factor in the act of committing a crime, then that low literacy hasn’t gone away simple in the act of their having served their sentence. The same problem exists on the other side: skills and training are difficult to access, jobs are difficult to apply for and progress in, and low socioeconomic circumstances are difficult to rise out of.
And that’s why the in-unit prison education system is of great importance when it comes to reducing the rates of reoffending that we can see in people who have served their sentence and been released. Combatting the issues that may have led an individual to commit an offence means that when released, they have a much smaller chance of reoffending, as the figures by The Shannon Trust mentioned previously indicate: bolstering reading and writing skills in-unit mean that when individuals do exit the prison system, those barriers to work and education are lowered, and careers and opportunities that may previously have been ‘walled off’ are now open. Better reading skills mean a better chance at long-term employment and the ability to move out of poverty and low socioeconomic circumstances, and the ability to build skill sets that feed into a chosen career. Literacy is a means of tackling reoffending at its root, and it's an important piece of the puzzle to think about when we're in a period where we're reassessing traditional methods of thinking about prisons and their place in reoffending reduction.
