A new report published by HM Inspectorate of Prisons has highlighted how vibrant reading cultures help to transform prisoners’ custodial experiences and support their rehabilitation.
As part of the report, Inspectors visited nine prisons where reading was a core part of the regime – with well-used, active libraries encouraging participation and prisoners benefitting from interventions that placed reading at the heart of their rehabilitation.
These findings follow reviews in 2022-23 which identified serious reading deficiencies across the prison estate: prisoners with the most need received the least support, education providers were doing little to address low achievement, library opening hours had not recovered since the pandemic and few jails had any sort of prison-wide strategy to promote reading for each and every prisoner.
This report, however, confirms that some prisons have made considerable improvements in addressing these problems.
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, commented:
This report highlights some very positive findings from jails in which committed governors and other leaders had worked together to create a strong reading culture in the prison. Yet we continue to find that reading has not been prioritised with nearly enough commitment in too many prisons. I urge governors and the prison service to use the findings from this report to learn from the best jails and improve provision for those in their care, so that they can create more stable prisons which reduce the risk of future reoffending.
To read the full report, click here.