Starting up to start over: why prison education matters now more than ever

This is the first in a series of two articles in which I'll look at the subject of prison education, why entrepreneurial education for prisoners is beneficial and how the prison education system can adapt to ensure it can thrive in the years ahead.

For many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a striking change to the life we once knew. Social spaces closed for months, businesses shuttered up or adopted substantially different ways of working, and uncertainty about the economy and the job market rose. It’s a new way of life for many of us, with little clarity about how the next few months will go.

Now, imagine that you are in prison and looking to be released in a few months’ time. Does what I just described sound like a world that would be especially inviting to you? Would you be excited to enter that world?

At Rocketeer, we’ve worked extensively with the justice sector for years to deliver enterprise programmes to prisoners through prison education schemes. In delivering these programmes our team works directly with inmates, which gives us insight into how they think and what inspires them.

Unsurprisingly, programmes that equip them with transferrable knowledge and soft skills, and then complement this with through-the-gate support upon release, make them feel optimistic and hopeful. And just like any other human, these feelings of optimism and hope inspire them to self-improvement and long-term reform. We know several ex-offenders that have gone on to turn their lives around and take steps to even build their own businesses upon release.

However, there are several factors that go into successes like that. There is no single course or skill that will, in isolation, transform a prisoner’s outlook on life. It requires an educational programme that provides key skills, a programme that helps inmates understand their own behaviours and ways of thinking, the assurance of continued support on release and, most importantly of all, to be treated with decency and humanity. Overall, the key to lasting rehabilitation is to be treated like a human and to have hope in a better future upon release.

Unfortunately many programmes to support and empower prisoners to change have been unable to be delivered since the pandemic started. Educators are increasingly unable to enter prisons to deliver courses. Without this productive use of time and without the opportunity to develop the skills or self-reflective insight to realise meaningful change, there is a risk of repeat offending upon release — especially when the post-COVID world as it stands may appear bleak to them.

It is a tricky situation for educators, prison education managers and staff responsible for reducing reoffending. Fortunately, there are options available. We do not know how long the pandemic will last or how long its impact will be felt, so it’s important that the prison education sector adapts.

As a company that has already started to pivot and adapt its offering in the face of COVID, here’s how we at Rocketeer see that taking shape.

Enterprise education to empower prisoners

First, we should establish precisely why prison education is so important at a time like this. In short, it’s not about the skills that are being taught directly. It’s about how learning those skills can make a prisoner feel about the future.

Think for example on what inspires you. Does having the knowledge and skills to do something make you want to do it? For most of us, the answer is no. You need to be inspired and motivated to apply those skills. Several factors play into that feeling of excitement.

As the former Director General of the Prison Service, Sir Martin Narey, said in late 2019, the rehabilitation of offenders in prisons by running courses alone does little to reduce reoffending. No six day, six week or six month course alone will transform a life. The key, from Sir Narey’s perspective, is the treatment of prisoners. I would agree, but also argue that education supports the self-growth that decency creates.

A good prison education programme will cover both the acquisition of new skills and knowledge, and the application of that knowledge for positive change. It’s not just about giving prisoners the tools for growth, but to also show them ways they might want to use them. That’s been fundamental in how Rocketeer’s courses are structured: it’s not just about the foundational knowledge of starting a digital business, it’s also about showing them that they can do it themselves. It’s showing them how they can get started, while also letting them understand themselves — their wants, characteristics and behaviours — in a new way.

And that’s a factor in why our entrepreneurial justice programmes have proven so popular with the Prisoners’ Education Trust and prison education teams around the UK. Enterprise education might seem like an uncommon programme, but it gives learners the opportunity to develop skills and insights about themselves that will serve them in multiple areas. Whether they start their own business or not, the fact that they understand themselves and their potential means they feel more empowered to reintegrate with society in a meaningful way. That’s the key to lasting rehabilitation.

This article was first printed in the September edition of the Global Business Playbook.