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Cuts to learning offerings within prisons are hindering prisoners' employment and skill development options, in the long run posing a risk to community safety, according to a latest report from a correctional watchdog body.

Cycle of Reoffending Connected to Lack of Training

Habitual offenders often create disorder in their neighborhoods due to the failure of correctional facilities to provide sufficient training and employment opportunities that could help break the cycle of reoffending, the report indicated.

I hold serious concerns about the impact of real-terms learning funding cuts on already inadequate services and about the absence of genuine appetite and drive for improvement that this represents.”

Budget Reductions Threaten Reform Efforts

In spite of promises to enhance availability to learning, spending on direct educational programs in prisons is being reduced by as much as 50%, according to recent disclosures.

Although the overall training allocation has stayed unchanged, the expense of program contracts has soared, according to prison governors.

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

Inadequate Conditions Impede Reform

Overcrowding, a shortage of training space, equipment breakdowns, and ageing infrastructure have worsened the situation, per the analysis.

Numerous prisoners remain for weeks to be allocated an training space and are often given any is open, rather than training relevant to their career opportunities upon leaving.

Although work proceeded, full-time positions generally engaged inmates for just five hours per day, with many positions divided into part-time slots to extend limited resources further.

Government Response and Upcoming Initiatives

The prison service has a responsibility to safeguard the community by making prisoners less inclined to reoffend when they are released, but too often it is falling short to fulfill this obligation.

Top governors know that prisons, and in the end our society, are more secure if prisoners are purposefully engaged, and that training, skill development and work play a crucial role in motivating inmates to turn their lives around.

“We know that meaningful activity can help to facilitate safe and decent correctional facilities and have a positive effect on reoffending levels.”

Unless officials in the prison system take the provision of high-quality training and training more seriously, it is hard to see how extremely high recidivism levels can be reduced.

Funding cuts are also expected to hinder initiatives to implement a new reward-driven prison regime that would allow prisoners to earn reductions their sentence by completing employment, training and education courses.