Report from the European Prison Education Association

It has just been announced that the 11th European Prison Education Association (EPEA) International discourse will take place in Dublin, Ireland from the 13th to 17th June 2007 Further details and an application form will be available in September 2006 Regular updates will be available at www.epea.org.

Iceland is hosting a Nordic discourse entitled Captivating Prison Cultures In May. 100 participants mainly from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland will attend. The discourse will focus on the importance of cultural activities in prison. It will address themes of the like kind as the role of the Internet and Communications Technology for futurity prison education, prison artwork, prison libraries and the tillage of prison and prisoners.

The 6th European conversation of Directors and Co-ordinators of Prison Education will take place in Prague, Czech Republic in September. It is being organised by the agency of the Prison Service of the Czech Republic, in association with the EPEA. The conversation is for those who administer or manage prison education at national or state horizontal

The conduct of the United Kingdom has delivered a verdant Paper Reducing Re-offending through Skills and pursuit produced by the Department for Education and Skills, the dwelling Office and Department for Work and Pensions.

The Forum upon Prisoner Education is a United Kingdom-based charity which alms to 'advance the quality, availability and consistency of education and training within the criminal justice system' It believes that "education in prisons should be centr upon the needs of the individual prisoner, for whom it can clinch the key to living without crime by the agency of building self-esteem, encouraging self-motivation, and providing novel opportunities." Members of the Forum include prison education staff and managers, common and former prisoners, academics, campaigners, justices and parliamentarians.

The Forum has just produc sum of two units publications which may be of interest to correctional educators internationally. Internet Inside outlines a succinct and clear argument for the rationale behind and necessity for prison pupils to have access to the Internet. Copies can be downloaded from www.fpe.org.uk.

The Forum has freshly published a second edition of Prison(er) Education, edited by the agency of its Director, Steve Taylor. The fresh collection of essays considers the past, near future and efficacy of prisoner education. Contributions from politicians, campaigners, tutors, academics and prisoners themselves examine a range of issues including the politics of prisoner education, by what means basic skills help ex-prisoners after release, prison teacher training, and whether prisons present the education that prisoners want. Copies of Prison(er) Education can be ordered from www.fpe.org.uk.

In January 2006 at a meeting of the Justice and domicile Affairs Ministers of the Council of Europe fresh recommendations updating the European Prison sways - Recommendations No. R (87) 3 were adopted. These take into account novel case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the standards unfolded by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT)

The EPEA contributed to the discussion upon the recommendations about prison education. The wording propos by means of the EPEA on the education of individuals in correctional settings was accepted almost verbatim. The masterys of particular concern to correctional educators include the following:

Education

281 each prison shall seek to provide all prisoners with access to educational programmes which are as comprehensive as possible and which convenient their individual needs while taking into account their aspirations.

282 Priority shall be given to prisoners with literacy and numeracy straits and those who lack basic or vocational education.

283 Particular attention shall be paid to the education of young prisoners and those with special exigencys

28.4 Education shall have no 287 As far as practicable, the education of les a status than work within the prison regime and prisoners shall not be disadvantaged financially or otherwise by dint of taking part in education.

285 each institution shall have a library for the use of all prisoners, adequately stocked with a wide range of the pair recreational and educational resources, works and other media.

286 Wherever possible, the prison library should be organised in cooperation with community library services.

Prisoners shall:

a. be integrated with the educational and vocational training combination of parts to form a whole of the country so that after their release they may continue their education and vocational training without difficulty;

b take place below the auspices of external educational institutions.

The replete text of the European Prison dominations is available at www.epea.org.

Cormac Behan

CEA International Representative

Copyright Correctional Education Association Jun 2006

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