New online collection of case studies on education in prison

Special Issue 2025 of Apprendre + Agir

Lisa Krolak

Abstract

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) launched an online collection of case studies on education in prison during the Montréal International Conference on Education in Prison in October 2024. This collection currently features 18 case studies showcasing successful initiatives and practical examples that ensure the right to education and lifelong learning for incarcerated individuals, with more to be added over time.

Education is a fundamental human right, and prisoners should not be deprived of it. Lifelong learning in prisons can empower individuals, helping them build new lives and livelihoods after release. This can lead to personal growth, economic and social reintegration, and lower recidivism rates, contributing to more cohesive societies. Needs-based and human-centered approaches are essential in this context.

The project aims to enhance global prison education programmes by sharing innovative and effective practices. Efforts to promote education in prison, including the development of prison libraries, are being led by various organizations worldwide. The collection highlights programme information, contact details, key impact data and personal stories, illustrating the transformative power of lifelong learning for incarcerated individuals.

The case studies span countries from Chile to Indonesia and cover themes such as digital skills, green competencies, and entrepreneurial tools. The collection also emphasizes the role of prison libraries in promoting literacy. Overall, the initiative aims to document the positive impact of prison education on reducing recidivism, fostering personal growth, and promoting social and economic reintegration, with the goal of enhancing prison education programmes globally.

Long summary

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) launched an online collection of case studies on education in prison during the Montréal International Conference on Education in Prison in October 2024. This collection features 18 case studies showcasing successful initiatives and practical examples that ensure the right to education and lifelong learning for incarcerated individuals. As an ongoing project, more case studies will be added over time.

The project aims to enhance global education programmes in prison by sharing innovative and effective practices. Efforts to promote education in prison, including the development of prison libraries, are being led by various organizations worldwide. The collection highlights programme information, contact details, key impact data and personal stories, illustrating the transformative power of lifelong learning for incarcerated individuals.

The case studies span countries from Chile to Indonesia and cover themes such as digital skills, green competencies, and entrepreneurial tools. The collection also emphasizes the role of prison libraries in promoting literacy. Overall, the initiative aims to document the positive impact of education in prison on reducing recidivism, fostering personal growth, and promoting social and economic reintegration, with the goal of enhancing education programs in prison globally.

The rationale behind this initiative is to encourage professional exchanges on education in prison among policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and other stakeholders. UIL develops cutting-edge research, conducts capacity-building activities, and organizes events to provide key stakeholders with a platform for dialogue. UIL has produced several reports on education in prison for UNESCO Member States interested in developing tailored activities. The research has identified numerous effective practices in education in prison and successful prison library initiatives worldwide. Major obstacles, such as the lack of awareness among prison staff about available learning opportunities, the lack of funding and sustainability have also been highlighted. Therefore, consolidating this data in an accessible format is crucial for promoting the ongoing exchange of innovative practices.

The collection emphasizes key impact data and personal testimonies to underscore the transformative power of education in prison and libraries in diverse settings. Together, these cases illustrate how lifelong learning opportunities in penitentiary contexts can empower individuals by equipping them with the tools to create new lives and livelihoods upon release. They highlight how education in prison and libraries foster personal growth and contribute to economic and social reintegration, leading to lower recidivism rates and more cohesive societies.

The main objectives of this collection are to showcase effective practices in education in prison and prison libraries from around the world, act as a central reference point for researchers, document and share programmes addressing the diverse needs of incarcerated individuals, raise awareness of effective practices in prison contexts, highlight innovative programmes providing inmates with digital skills, green competencies, and entrepreneurial tools, share programme descriptions and impact data, and contribute to achieving SDG 4 and SDG 16.

The collection targets researchers, practitioners, students, academics, policymakers, experts in the education field, and prison staff. It serves as a practical, educational resource for developing learning activities in penitentiary contexts or conducting research on this topic. The accessible format ensures it speaks to the general public interested in education in prison and libraries.

Currently, the collection includes ten case studies on broader education in prison initiatives and eight on effective practices in prison library settings. More case studies will be added in the future, ensuring regional balance. Ultimately, the collection aims to support UIL’s dissemination of effective practices, inform future capacity-building activities, and facilitate the exchange of innovative practices among key stakeholders. The collection is available in English, French, and Spanish.

Keywords: education in prison, prison libraries, non-formal learning, informal learning, literacy, vocational training

Overview

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) launched an online collection of case studies on education in prison during the Montréal International Conference on Education in Prison in October 2024. At that time, the online collection featured 16 case studies showcasing successful initiatives that ensure the right to education and lifelong learning for incarcerated individuals. More case studies will be added over time.

Education is a fundamental human right for everyone, including prisoners (Krolak, 2019: 4). Education and lifelong learning opportunities can empower individuals, helping them to build new lives and livelihoods after release. The online collection aims to showcase education programs in prison by sharing innovative and effective practices, globally. These efforts to promote education in prison are being led by prison authorities, non-governmental organizations, civil society groups, international organizations and educational institutions, among others.

The case studies span every continent and cover themes such as digital skills, green competencies, and entrepreneurial tools. The collection also emphasizes the role of prison libraries in promoting literacy. Overall, the initiative aims to document the positive impact of education in prison on reducing recidivism, fostering personal growth, and promoting social and economic reintegration, with the goal of enhancing education programs in prison globally.

Rationale

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) is working, among many other projects, to encourage professional exchanges on education in prison among policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and other stakeholders. To this end, UIL develops cutting-edge research, conducts capacity-building activities, and organizes events to provide key stakeholders with a platform for dialogue.

UIL has produced several reports on education in prison for UNESCO Member States interested in developing tailored activities, including literature reviews in English (Behan, 2021) and French (Salane, 2021) and a global publication on prison libraries (Krolak, 2019). The research behind these reports has identified numerous cases illustrating effective practices. Additionally, UIL has mapped successfully innovative prison library initiatives worldwide. We saw the need and potential to consolidate these experiences in an accessible format to facilitate the ongoing exchange of innovative practices. This is why UIL developed a centralized online collection of case studies on education in prison.

The individual cases in this collection illustrate how lifelong learning opportunities in penitentiary contexts can empower individuals by equipping them with the tools to create new lives and livelihoods upon release. They highlight how education in prison and prison libraries foster personal growth and facilitate economic and social reintegration. Beyond personal development, these programs contribute to safer and more resilient communities by supporting successful reentry. This, in turn, can lead to lower recidivism rates and help build more cohesive societies. The variety of approaches adopted across countries reflects both the adaptability and wide relevance of education in prison.

Education in prison supports the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, particularly the fourth goal, which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, and Goal 11, which seeks to promote peaceful and inclusive societies, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Objectives

The main objectives of this collection are:

To showcase effective practices on education in prison and prison libraries from around the world.
To act as a central reference point for researchers and others who wish to learn more about what effective education in prison entails.
To document and share programs that address the diverse needs of incarcerated individuals.
To raise awareness of “what works” in prison contexts, where lifelong learning is concerned.
To highlight innovative programs that provide inmates with digital skills, green competencies, entrepreneurial tools, etc.

Target Audience

The collection targets researchers, practitioners, students, academics and/or policymakers working on areas related to education in prison, experts in the education field and prison staff, among others. It acts as a practical, educational resource for individuals looking to develop learning activities in penitentiary contexts or conduct research on this topic. By providing contact information, it also facilitates networking. The collection’s accessible format, structure and use of language will also ensure it speaks to members of the general public who simply wish to learn more about what education in prison might look like, as well as what occurs in prison libraries.

Structure

Currently, there are 18 case studies published online covering education in prison initiatives. As we strive to ensure regional balance, the collection includes cases from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and North America, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Each case study is approximately four pages long, providing background information, basic program details, information about the implementing organization and program objectives. Additionally, the case studies provide contact details and include impact data and personal stories, when available.

Ultimately, the collection of case studies aims to support and streamline UIL’s dissemination of effective practices, inform future capacity-building activities, and serve as a basis for discussion among key stakeholders in the field. It will facilitate the exchange of innovative practices while acting as an educational resource for policymakers, researchers, practitioners, students, and others. The collection of case studies is available in English, French, and Spanish. It was developed by UIL staff Katie Jones, Lisa Krolak, and Marie Macauley.

**Figure 1: Collection of case studies on education in prison**
© UIL website

Overview of current case studies

Argentina: Literacy for Liberty

The Literacy for Liberty programme promotes literacy development through a peer-learning approach. A team from San Martín National University made up of professors and advanced students trains literate prisoners since 2010 to act as literacy instructors to their incarcerated peers.

Brazil: Remission for Reading

The Ministry of Justice of Brazil introduced a law in 2012 enabling prisoners to reduce their sentences through reading books. Each prisoner has the opportunity to submit up to 12 book reviews each year, which can add up to a total of 48 days of remission.

Cambodia: National network of Multimedia Libraries in prison

Sipar is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that has established 630 libraries and reading centres in all regions of Cambodia. A specific Sipar programme on establishing libraries in prisons began in four pilot prisons in 2012. Today, the overall aim is to transform the 28 prison libraries in Cambodia into Multimedia Libraries.

Chile: Reading Promotion in Prisons

The Prison Libraries Programme was born in 2015 from a partnership between the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, and Gendarmería, the institution in charge of prisons in Chile. The aim was to modernize prison libraries and promote better reading habits among the prison population.

France: Auxilia, une nouvelle chance

Auxilia, une nouvelle chance offers training by correspondence to people detained throughout France, with the help of hundreds of volunteers. Every year, the initiative allows near 2,100 learners to follow a distance-learning course. As well as teaching, volunteer instructors provide detainees with moral support, and strive to help them reconnect with the outside world.

France: MoodleBox in Detention

MoodleBox in Detention is a unique remote learning platform based in France that enables prisoners at the Caen Penitentiary Centre – who do not have access to the internet – to follow courses at the University of Caen and other academic institutions. The programme was launched in 2017 in order to offer prisoners access to course content alongside regular university students.

Indonesia: Sustainable Batik Production Training

The United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Second Chance Foundation have established in 2019 a three-month batik vocational training programme that educates female prisoners on the use of wax-resistant natural dyes in batik production, a procedure unique to Indonesia. After completing the training programme, prisoners can continue to work at the production facility within the prison, with remuneration based on profits from the sale of fabrics.

Kenya: Change Hub Innovation Centre

The Change Hub Innovation Centre leads a rehabilitation programme for women at Langata maximum-security prison, the only women’s prison in Nairobi. The programme teaches female prisoners everything from coding and web design to computer repair. It has been designed to help women access an increasingly technology-based economy upon their release from prison.

Norway: Bastøy Prison Island

The Bastøy prison library is managed by the nearby Horten public library on the mainland, with the prison librarian being employed not by the prison but by the public library system. Therefore, Bastøy prison library operates as an ‘import model’ (as a branch of a public library) which allows prisoners to borrow books from any library in Norway.

Philippines: Read Your Way Out

Since the Philippines struggle with extreme overcrowding in prison, the UNODC has initiated several activities that would alleviate the country’s heavily congested jails. To provide access to books, libraries and reading within Philippine jails, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), supported by the UNODC and the National Library of the Philippines, established the “Read Your Way Out” project (RYWO) in 2022, through which people deprived of liberty can reduce their sentences by reading.

South Africa: READucate

The READucate initiative in South Africa brings together reading coaches and learners to enhance literacy, communication skills and confidence among prisoners. It works with a holistic, peer-to-peer approach to acquiring reading and writing skills in English. It also aims to support individuals in building self-confidence. It is delivered since 2022 by the Australian charity Becky O. Foundation.

South Sudan: Vocational Training Programme

The vocational training programme in prisons started in 2016 with the establishment of the Juba Vocational Training Centre, and has since been expanded to other prisons. The curriculum focuses on practical activities, exercises and assessments, over a six-month period. All training is conducted by qualified South Sudanese instructors and supervisors and aligns with other vocational training institutions approved by the South Sudan government.

Thailand: The Life-Changing Library

The Life-Changing Library in Uthai Thani Provincial Prison was established in 2016, in cooperation with the Thai Library Association. It is a lively library with activities, conversation groups, and a place where inmates can listen to people telling stories or reading aloud. It is more than just a place full of books, but is also a space for reflection and inspiration to change and strengthen self-confidence and positive thinking.

United Kingdom: Storybook Dads

The UK charity Storybook Dads currently works in about 100 national prisons, including women’s prisons, young offender institutes, and secure hospitals across the country. Since 2003, participants are assisted in recording themselves reading a book, which their children can later listen to or watch at home. The project supports parent-child contact, improves literacy skills, and empowers prisoners as role models.

United Kingdom: Turning Pages

Turning Pages is a set of five friendly, structured manuals that use a synthetic phonics approach. A mentor or reading coach will work through the Turning Pages manuals with a person who wants to learn to read. Thirty reading books accompany the different reading levels for each manual. The manuals and readers have been developed in 2015 in line with the Shannon Trust to ensure every prisoner is equipped with essential life skills.

USA: Frames Prison Programme

The Frames Prison Programme has been operating since 2017 and is developed by the Brink Literacy Project, which uses the power of storytelling to transform the lives of people on the brink. The programme uses and produces comics to engage low-literacy readers with reading and writing. Sharing their stories can lead to an identity shift and personal transformation that traditional literacy methods may not achieve.

USA: Literacy for Incarcerated Teens (LIT)

Literacy for Incarcerated Teens started in 2002. It invests in nurturing fully developed library programmes within correctional facilities for incarcerated and detained youth. This involves sending books and magazine subscriptions to the facilities and supporting activities that are designed specifically to enhance young people’s self-esteem and communication skills.

USA: The Gift of Chess

The Gift of Chess, established in 2021 as a charitable organization, leverages chess as a tool for rehabilitation, cognitive development, and personal growth in prisons. It provides structured chess programmes in correctional facilities to support the rehabilitation of incarcerated individuals.

Recurrent Themes

As shown above, the case studies in the online collection cover various topics, always ensuring that the diverse needs of incarcerated individuals are addressed. They are tailored to the specific needs and contexts of different prison populations, taking into account factors such as gender, age, cultural background, educational level, and language barriers. But analyzing the wealth of topics, four areas can be highlighted.

Literacy and Education

Literacy is a crucial tool for rehabilitation in education programmes in prison. Initiatives like “Literacy for Liberty” in Argentina and “Remission for Reading” in Brazil highlight the importance of literacy in empowering prisoners, boosting their self-esteem, and equipping them with skills for reintegration. These programmes often involve peer-led learning, where literate prisoners teach their peers, fostering community and solidarity. The focus is on developing critical, creative, and informed readers who can reflect on their lives and make positive changes. Several case studies also demonstrate the transformative impact of prison libraries in providing access to literacy and educational programs for personal development and societal reintegration.

Vocational Training

Vocational training programmes, such as the batik production training in Indonesia and the vocational training centers in South Sudan, aim to equip prisoners with practical skills in various fields like food processing, plumbing, electrical and auto mechanics, tailoring, hairdressing, carpentry, masonry, metalwork, fashion design, and agriculture. These programmes help prisoners develop commercially viable skills to support themselves and their families post-release, enhancing their employability and reducing the likelihood of reoffending. The goal is to promote social reintegration and enable prisoners to contribute actively to society.

Technology and Innovation

Programmes like the “Change Hub Innovation Centre” in Kenya and “MoodleBox in Detention” in France use technology to enhance educational opportunities for prisoners. These initiatives provide access to higher education and vocational training, helping inmates develop digital skills and promoting their reintegration into society. By incorporating technology in education in prison, these programmes aim to support inmates in setting their own learning objectives, preparing for reintegration, and gaining independence in today’s digital economy.

Family Connections

Maintaining family ties is a crucial aspect of educational programmes in prison. Initiatives like “Storybook Dads” in the UK enable prisoners to record bedtime stories for their children, helping to strengthen family bonds and improve the literacy skills of both parents and children. These programmes recognize the importance of family support in the rehabilitation process and aim to limit the detrimental effects of imprisonment on families. By facilitating contact between prisoners and their families, these initiatives promote emotional well-being and stability, helping prisoners improve their self-esteem, feel valued as parents, and positively impact their children’s lives.

Despite significant positive outcomes, which include reduced recidivism, improved literacy and vocational skills, strengthened family bonds, and enhanced self-esteem and personal growth, many programmes face challenges. These include limited resources, lack of qualified staff, overcrowding in prisons, and the often unmet need for ongoing support and training for both prisoners and staff. Ensuring the sustainability of these programmes requires continuous investment and collaboration between prison authorities, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.

Outlook

The UIL online collection of innovative practices on education in prison underscores the transformative potential of educational programs behind bars. It showcases a rich diversity of experiences and approaches that empower prisoners with the skills and knowledge needed to rebuild their lives and reintegrate successfully into society. At UIL, we remain committed to documenting and sharing best practices on education in prison to foster visibility, raise awareness and create opportunities for collaboration. These efforts aim to support the development of more humane and effective prison environments.

As this is a living collection, we will continue to expand it. In late 2025, ten additional case studies will be added, focusing on innovative practices from prisons located in cities that are part of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities. In the future, more case studies will follow.

If you are aware of a relevant initiative that could be included in the online collection, please feel free to contact Lisa Krolak at l.krolak@unesco.org.

References

Behan, C. (2021). Education in prison: a literature review. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000378059
Krolak, L. (2019). Books beyond bars: The transformation power of prison libraries. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000369835
Salane, F. (2021). L’Éducation en prison: revue de littérature francophone. UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000378692

UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (2024). A collection of case studies on prison education and libraries: Effective practices from around the world. Unpublished concept paper.
UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (2025). Prison Education Case Studies. https://www.uil.unesco.org/en/prison-education-case-studies

Author

Lisa Krolak
UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning
l.krolak@unesco.org

Cite this article

Krolak, L. (2025). New online collection of case studies on education in prison. Apprendre + Agir, special issue 2025, Learning and Transforming: International Practices and Perspectives on Prison Education. https://icea-apprendreagir.ca/new-online-collection-of-case-studies-on-education-in-prison/