Human Rights and Prisons

5.4 Education

Law and policy framework

Under s78 of the Corrections Act, prisoners are entitled to reasonable access to news, to access library services, and to access further education that will assist their rehabilitation, a reduction in their reoffending or community reintegration. Prisoners may receive free education when (i) they have an entitlement (eg under the Education Act 1989) or (ii) screening indicates low literacy and numeracy skills. Prisoners may also be able to work towards trade qualifications through classroom-based theory and/or on-job training.
Department of Corrections policies regarding Youth Offender Units also stipulate that all prisoners under the age of 16 must receive 20 hours of education per week, and that all prisoners in Youth Offender Units who are over the age of 16 should receive a minimum of 10 hours of education per week. Education in Youth Offender Units includes: National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA); Secondary Education (a component being te reo Māori); Literacy and Numeracy Courses; English as a Second Language; and Tertiary Education. The Department of Corrections (2009a) establishes that secondary education is provided to all those under 19 years of age (of which there are approximately 600 prisoners in prison custody).
The Prisoner Skills and Employment Strategy 2009-2012 provides a framework for the provision of education and training (Department of Corrections, 2009d). It outlines initiatives for improving education provision, which include:

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  Increasing provision of literacy and numeracy education; schooling (NCEA); trade and technical training; self-directed tertiary education;
  
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  Maintaining computer training; driver licence training and Te Reo training.
  

Issues

Many prisoners have poor labour market attachment and low literacy and numeracy levels. For example, in 2008, 55 per cent of prisoners reported that they had not had a job before they went to prison (Department of Corrections, 2009d). Initial screening for literacy and numeracy indicates that up to 90 per cent of prisoners may have low literacy skills (compared with around 43 per cent of the general population) and up to 80 per cent of prisoners may have low numeracy skills (compared with 51 per cent of the general population) (ibid.). Baragwanath (2009) had detailed that many young prisoners in NZ do not have basic literacy skills due to sight or hearing (eg glue ear) difficulties, or because they could not cope with the school system, or have learning difficulties.
Literacy and numeracy education is provided through the Foundations Skills programme. Foundation Skills aims to develop prisoners’ reading, writing, speaking, listening, critical thinking, numeracy and problem solving skills. In 2010, just over 1,500 prisoners participated in the programme.
The Department has also begun to deliver embedded literacy and numeracy education through Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE). Over the last two years, 45 CIE Instructors completed the National Certificate in Adult Literacy and Numeracy Education, with a further 15 Instructors due to complete the qualification by December 2011. Since July 2010, 615 prisoners have commenced training that included embedded literacy and numeracy.
The education of prisoners does have a rehabilitative function (Devine, 2007). Over the last decade, a number of studies have shown educational training as having positive outcomes – ex-prisoners who have been involved in educational programmes are more likely to be employed than others, and their recidivism and re-imprisonment rates are lower (Department of Corrections, 2009f). Education also increases self-esteem and leads to better prisoner behaviour. In a study of female prisoners in the Australian state of Victoria, Spark and Harris (2005) evidence the reasons why women participated in education. These included: it provided something to do; was a way to positively focus the mind; developed positive mental health; bolstered self-esteem; gave confidence; improved relations with prison staff; improved relations with other prisoners; and built opportunities for the prisoner (and their family) on release. Educational classes had important short and long-term effects.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Education (2009:s4) has recently confirmed these outcomes for educational programmes but also argues that education is an ‘imperative in its own right’. For the Special Rapporteur, education enables ‘positive change and human capacity’ (ibid:s10); it is a means for prisoners to fulfil their potential. For these reasons, education should be a central feature of prison life.
Despite the potential of education to secure a number of positive outcomes, international commentators have indicated that there remain many barriers to education in prisons. The UN Special Rapporteur (ibid), as well as Jones and Pike (2010) have noted:

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  Negative attitudes – particularly of politicians and policy-makers, such that prisoners are viewed as not deserving of education services;
  
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  Experiential barriers – that prisoners have low self-esteem, or learning difficulties that inhibit their progress;
  
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  Institutional issues – education is undermined by: lockdowns; prisoner transfers; poor libraries; lack of educational material; long waiting lists for courses; lack of IT training; lack of teaching staff or support staff; the withdrawal of education as a punishment measure; prisoners having to self-fund education; discrimination of access dependent on sentence length, classification, and so on; dated vocational courses; and, the lack of awareness about learning difficulties and the means to approach them.
  

In New Zealand, Baragwanath (2009) argues that few young prisoners receive their educational entitlement, and that this breaches their educational rights. She notes a number of deficiencies, including that:

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  Prison teachers do not work under a secondary school hierarchy;
  
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  Prisoners have restricted school times and no formal homework time;
  
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  Prisoners are given no incentive to continue learning post 16th birthday, and consequently those aged 17 or 18 tend to miss out on education;
  
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  In January 2009, just 130 prisoners were enrolled in correspondence school;
  
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  It is almost impossible for those on remand to receive education, even if they have lengthy remand periods;
  
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  If prisoners wish to access courses with the Open Polytechnic, they have to get a student loan to assist with their fees. This impacts negatively on their situation post-release.
  

Ultimately, she argues for the establishment of schools within the prison system. This system would provide young prisoners with skilled teachers, and courses would meet general educational minimum standards. She proposes that the responsibility for that education should be placed on the Ministry of Education.

Further arguments on the provision of education in New Zealand include:

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  That educational courses should provide comparable rates of earnings as work within the prison system (as highlighted by the Ministerial Committee in 1989). Prisoners who would benefit from academic study may forego that opportunity in a bid to make a prison wage. The Department has recently developed a Prisoner Incentive Framework to incentivise education by basing pay structures on the number of credits gained regardless of whether the prisoner is participating in a rehabilitative programme, education or employment.
  

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  That progress should continue to be made to strengthen prison libraries (The Ombudsmen’s Office, 2005, 2007).
  

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  That Corrections might also advance the idea of education as a public or social good – that can bring an increased sense of personal esteem and advancement, and not just decreased reoffending (Devine, 2007). Under this ethos, there would be further provision and support for higher learning, including tertiary level learning.