The founding of the charitable Shannon Trust organization which promotes literacy education among prisoners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was fittingly funded by the royalties from a book: “Invisible Crying Tree” published by 1995 by Shannon Trust founder Christopher Morgan comprises an eye-opening pen pal correspondence between Morgan and Tom Shannon, a farmer from Sussex and convicted murderer in prison for life.
library of a Federal prison located on an island in Puget Sound (Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)
The trust calls illiteracy a roadblock to “the rehabilitation journey” and advocates improving inmate literacy as a means to reduce the likelihood of repeat offenses, or recidivism.
With the help of volunteer staff, the organization sets up one-to-one peer mentoring reading programs through which prisoners teach other prisoners. The pilot program was launched in 2001 and within a year and a half had expanded to 30 other penitentiaries.
Now, according to reports by The Guardian, every public sector prison throughout England and Wales will administer the program through a business partnership between the Shannon Trust and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS).
Recidivism rates in the UK reached record levels in 2011, the BBC reported.
Meanwhile, in the US, global policy think tank the RAND Corporation published a new report in December 2013 claiming that correctional educational programs can reduce recidivism by 43 percent and could save thousands of dollars per inmate associated with repeat incarcerations. However, states are spending less on prison education than they were in 1982, reports US News.
Prisoner education advocates the world over will no doubt be reading along as Britain begins its next chapter.
