Michael Gove will today unveil plans to boost the skills of offenders and reduce illiteracy in prisons in order to tackle the "persistent" problem of reoffending.
In his first speech on prisons policy, the Justice Secretary is expected to announce an overhaul of the prison education system.
"In prisons there is a, literally, captive population whose inability to read properly or master basic mathematics makes them prime candidates for re-offending," he will say. Currently, almost half of adult prisoners re-offend within one year of their release.
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Gove is considering an "earned release" scheme that would serve as a reward programme for offenders who are committed to education and gain respected qualifications. "As things stand, we do not have the right incentives for prisoners to learn or for prison staff to prioritise education. And that's got to change."
Inmates who successfully complete educational courses could be rewarded with early release or temporary release at weekends. However, violent criminals and those who pose a danger to the public are likely to be exempt from the scheme, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The justice secretary also suggested that prison governors should be a given more control over standards of teaching and of learning.
His comments come just days after an annual report by the chief inspector of prisons for England and Wales found that the government's "rehabilitation revolution" launched in 2010 had not even begun.
A recent report from the Prisoner Learning Alliance said one of the most serious problems with prison education was the focus on obtaining basic skills, The Guardian reports.
One prisoner said; "It is all about level 1 and 2, no GCSEs or A-levels. This is good for short-term prisoners, but when you are in long-term prison doing life you complete them within a couple of years, then there is nothing left to do."
The Prison Governors Association has welcomed the new proposals but also raised concerns about how such measures would be implemented in practice, the BBC reports. Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust said the challenge now is "to translate this marked new reflective tone set by the Justice Secretary into sensible policy and to create a just, humane and effective penal system."
