The Bookies Group

The Bookies group – made up of prisoners, librarians and prison staff at HMP Birmingham - won the 2007 national Short Story Reading Challenge (run by The Reading Agency). An initial questionnaire on attitudes to short stories provoked a lot of discussion amongst the group. Librarian, Sue Wilkinson, said: “Some of the men felt that, because they were prisoners, their entry might not be taken seriously. Others felt that this was an opportunity to show what they could do.”

The Bookies read over 200 short stories, all less than 12 pages long, before choosing their top five. Sue said: “The group now sees themselves as a group of readers who happen to be in prison, rather than a group of prisoners who read. Some members have suggested we have a short story writing competition. Everyone was keen, so we’ve started thinking about our stories.”

(Library and Information Update, July 2007)

Toe by Toe is a highly structured reading manual, written by Keda and Harry Cowling, that teaches basic literacy skills to learners of all ages. The Shannon Trust, founded by Chris Morgan in 1996, makes copies of the manual available free of charge to prisons, aiming to make inmates' time in prison an opportunity for them to learn to read and provide them with a potential alternative to crime. The scheme increases the motivation of prisoners with good literacy skills by appointing them as mentors to prisoners with poorer levels of literacy. They read one-to-one, for 20 minutes a day, at least five times a week using the Toe by Toe Manual. All administration is done by the prisoners themselves, meaning prison officers need only loosely monitor the process. There are currently 650 graduates and 2,000 mentees on the scheme in over 100 prisons.

Christopher Morgan, founder of the Shannon Trust, is full of praise for Neil Lodge, an officer at Wandsworth prison, who volunteered to set up a trial in the vulnerable prisoners' unit. Within a year, over 80 prisoners had learnt to read. Lodge, who has written a guide for jails starting up the scheme, says successful learners "now have the skills they need to survive in society. They can represent themselves in a way that was not possible before they achieved literacy".

Chris Morgan was awarded the Longford Prize for the most proactive venture within the prison community in 2004, for his work with Toe by Toe. It is hoped that the programme will be extended into the community, so that those on shorter sentences will have a chance to complete the course.

Toe by Toe welcomes enquiries from prisons not already facilitating this project, and from anyone wishing to get involved. Call 0845 458 2641 or email camor@attglobal.net. More information on Toe by Toe is at www.toebytoe.co.uk. Read an article from Literacy Today.

A very positive report has been published about Toe by Toe for the Offenders Learning Skills Unit at the Department for Education and Skills. Details are available on the Shannon trust website at www.shannontrust.com.

Reading scheme helps young offenders learn from their mistakes

A popular reading scheme for young offenders in Huddersfield is spreading through the country's juvenile justice system. As part of the behaviour contract that is drawn up for 10 to 17-year-olds who plead guilty to first-time offences, young offenders are being issued with books to read. While working as a children's librarian, Chris Marsden got into the habit of recommending 'situation books' specifically written to help children cope with parents' divorce, imprisonment or long hospital stays. Now a member of one of the panels which negotiate these behaviour contracts, Marsden uses his long-standing expertise to find books that will strike a chord with the young person in question. Contemplating the recorder of a young car thief - or 'twocker' - he recommended Twocking by Eric Brown. A few weeks later she was back, saying 'that was a cool story, thanks. I've got the point.'

Marsden's 60-page catalogue of books, ranging from Aesop to Who's A Big Bully Then, by Michael Morpurgo, is now standard issue in Huddersfield and Dewsbury, with fresh orders arriving weekly from Calderdale, Barnsley, Sheffield and beyond.
'We know there could be a problem with reading ability, but that's been turned into a benefit, with contracts where parents agree to read to their children, or the whole family listens to an audio book,' Marsden says.

(Society Guardian, 23 June 2004)

Peer support projects

The concept of peer support has always operated on an informal basis in prisons with prisoners helping each other out with letter writing and other literacy tasks. Steps to formalise and promote this practice were taken in the 1990s through a pilot scheme funded by the Basic Skills Agency. Prisoners at eight establishments volunteered to undertake the City and Guilds Initial Certificate in Teaching Basic Skills so that they could support their fellow inmates with basic skills needs. An evaluation of these pilot projects concluded that the impact had been 'substantial in reminding education staff that it is possible to involve the whole institution in improving the basic skills of prisoners.' 

A further pilot in 2000-01, funded by the then Prisoners' Learning and Skills Unit at the Department for Education and Skills, enabled a few more prisons to trial this work. In these cases, a link with the National Reading Campaign encouraged the schemes to involve the prison library and introduce the idea of reading for pleasure into the scope of the project. Following training, volunteer prisoners, in some cases called Reading Champions, worked alongside prisoners within education and were also available to provide one-to-one support in residential areas as well as the library, gym and workshops.  Officers were encouraged to spread the message and to identify prisoners who would benefit from help.

Following the success of these schemes, further funding was made available across the prison estate from the DfES and more prisons and young offenders' institutions adopted the scheme. By this stage two main models had emerged: full Level 2 training for prisoners with enough time to achieve the required accreditation and the 'Reading Champions' model for those volunteers for whom a mentoring accreditation (eg Open College Network Reading Together) would be more appropriate.

By mid 2003, a significant number of prisons had taken up the scheme. The aim would be to expand it to the extent that trained prisoners moving to other establishments could simply continue their role in supporting other inmates.

Contact Phil Hind at the Offenders' Learning and Skills Unit (phil.hind@dfes.gsi.gov.uk) for more information.

The children were so pleased to hear from their Dad.  They want their Dad to record them another story if that's possible.  I think it's brilliant that he's allowed to do something like that for his children.'  Wife of prisoner involved in family reading at HMP Woodhill.

A few prisons have been running family reading projects for some time based on the 'Storybook Dad' or storytaping model with prisoners recording and sending stories to their children. For instance, Leicestershire County Council's library service worked with HMP Gartree on its FATHERS project (Fathers As Teachers, Helping, Encouraging, Reading, Supporting). Originally funded through the NYR, this set up family activities through the visitors centre and encouraged fathers to read with their children and tape stories for them. The project had a significant impact on inmates and their families and attracted interest from other prisons.  Contact Val Williams on 01858 410234 ext 419 or Andy Cooke on 0116 265 6916.

The Big Book Share launched at HMP Nottingham in 2001 and run by Nottingham City Libraries and The Reading Agency, with funding from Marks & Spencer, built on this model to include book sharing sessions for prisoners and family visits. This has now been extended and used as a model for several other prisons and youth offenders' institutions with funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

Thanks to support from the then Prisoners' Learning and Skills Unit in 2001-02, the National Reading Campaign allocated funding to a small number of family learning projects in prisons that had reading as their starting-point.  These ranged from storytape and storysacks schemes to initiatives that integrated family visits and guidance on how prisoners could support their children's reading development into accredited courses.  All projects made a point of linking the prison library and education department to other partners across the prison.  Prisons involved were Channings Wood, Eastwood Park, Liverpool, Risley, Send, Woodhill and Wymott. Family visits have also been a feature of initiatives run at HMP Holme House and HMP The Wolds and other prisons have also integrated reading activity into parenting courses. For instance, drama workshops run by Safe Ground at several institutions in their Family Man programme have focused on fathers supporting their children's reading.

Contact Anne Smith in the Offenders' Learning and Skills Unit on anne.smith@dfes.gsi.gov.uk for current information on family reading and learning projects in prisons and young offenders' institutions.

BAT club - bringing dads and their children closer

Developed by the Northern Ireland Prison Service at Maghaberry, in partnership with the South Eastern Education and Library Board and Bright Books, the BAT club promotes literacy among offenders and their children. Although based on the Big Book Share, project organisers were concerned that this was unsustainable since books are given free to participating children.

The BAT (Books and Tapes) club approach, launched in June 2004, reinforces the concept that libraries lend books. The process starts with Dad selecting a book, assistance is provided for those who have difficulty with reading. Advice is given by prison library staff about what books would suit the child concerned and on how to make a tape recording more interesting.

The book and the tape are then leant to the child who is encouraged to read the book in conjunction with the tape from their dad. Uniquely, the children are encouraged to tape record their views on the book along with a personal greeting to their dad and their comments on the book .

Through a donation from Bright Books children involved in the scheme will receive book tokens to encourage them to become book owners. The pilot scheme involves Life Sentence prisoners who experience long-term separation from families ad society. BAT cub allows fathers in custody to still play a role in the development of their children.

(Prison Service, Northern Ireland, June 2004)

Storybook Dads

HMP Dartmoor has run a successful Storybook Dads scheme, using an approach that is being taken up by other prisons across the country. It builds on the established format of prisoners recording stories on to tape by allowing them to digitally edit their stories, removing any mistakes and adding music and effects as appropriate. The aim is to produce a finished product that enhances the stories, whatever the reader's skills. For more information see

www.storybookdads.co.uk

KIDS VIP

With funding from the National Year of Reading, KIDS VIP ran storytelling workshops and provided books for visiting children. Teenage books were given to those visiting prisons to combat boredom on a two-hour visit to an imprisoned parent. Funding also enabled a storyteller to visit prisons during extended children's visits, spending one hour storytelling for younger children and imprisoned parents, and giving the prisoners ideas on how they could tell stories to their own children.

Storyteller Mike O'Leary proved a great success both with the parents and children. This part of the project  gatherered momentum as his reputation became known within the prison service. A grateful prisoner wrote: "I would just like to say, after speaking to my wife on the phone, that she and I both thought that the chap who told the stories was excellent. My children did not stop talking about the ginger bread man on the way home, as my son James had helped out with it. We both agreed that it was a good idea to bring the gentleman in. I think that everybody there engaged him. I hope that when we have our next family visit he will be invited to come again."

Reader development projects

A DCMS/Wolfson-funded partnership with Writers in Prison Network, the Prison Education Service and Harper Collins Publishers ran the first national reader development project for prisons during 2001. Called Inside Books, this sought to establish a model for successful reading groups in the prison context, including groups targeted at early readers with basic skills. It worked with prison reading groups to produce a sampler booklet of ten contemporary novels and a 100-title collection of new fiction to appeal particularly to under-25s.  It also aimed to equip key prison staff with reader development skills and strengthen the co-operative framework for sustaining reader development activity between prison libraries, the Prison Education Service and writers in residence. It has disseminated its activities through the Prison Libraries Group network, the Prison Education Service and the Writers in Prison Network.  Contact Sue Wilkinson on 0121 554 3838 x 324 or sue.wilkinson@hmps.gsi.gov.uk

DCMS/Wolfson funding during 2001 also enabled the publishing charity Gatehouse to link up with the Writers in Prison Network to launch CoolBooks. This project addressed prisoners' needs for relevant and accessible reading materials by developing books written by and for prisoners with reading and writing difficulties, which have been distributed to 135 prisons. Working in four prisons alongside librarians and basic skills staff, the Writers in Prison Network and Gatehouse ran writing workshops and supported reader circles which selected the final texts for publication. A toolkit for practitioners based on the project was distributed to all prisons. Contact Clive Hopwood on 01938 811 355 or email CHopwood98@aol.com

The Prison Libraries Group focuses on reader development activity through prison libraries in its journal and at its conferences. Contact Sue Wilkinson on 0121 554 3838 x324 or sue.wilkinson@hmps.gsi.gov.uk

Radio Wanno - the prison radio project

The Prison Radio Project, an initiative of the educational media consultancy Radio for Development was launched at HMP Wandsworth in January 2004. In a short period of time Radio Wanno has established itself as an integral part of prison life.

The project is based on the idea that radio is a uniquely effective medium to reach and engage the prison population - many of whom have lower than average reading skills and have lost confidence in mainstream education provision. Programmes on Radio Wanno are made by and for the prison community at Wandsworth, providing an effective way to enable prisoners and officers to 'have their say'.

The Prison Radio Project comprises four interdependent activities:

1. Broadcasting Centre: Radio Wanno broadcasts from radio studios in D Wing for up to five hours a day. Its output is largely speech-based, with an emphasis on encouraging creative, responsible and positive activity within the prison population. For example, broadcasts have looked at the reading mentoring scheme, Toe by Toe, and the work of Fathers in Prison with its emphasis on responsible parenting.

2. Learning Centre: Lambeth College is delivering a BTEC National Award in Media (Radio) - to a core team of twelve broadcast trainees over a period of six months. A wider group of support workers are working towards a Key Skills in Communications qualifications.

3. Production House: The project responds to commissions for audio materials to support a variety of prison activities. For example, the Induction Department saw a need for more accessible and user-friendly information for newly arrived prisoners. An induction CD has been produced through the project and is now provided for every new arrival. The CD is being translated into the four main languages spoken among foreign national prisoners in Wandsworth.

4. Support on release: The Prison Radio Outreach Project offers prisoners support beyond their time on the course, encouraging their personal ambitions for further training or employment, while supporting them in dealing with any addiction, housing or other problems they may have.

The response from the prison community at all levels has been highly positive and other prisons around the country are considering developing similar projects.

For more information contact Radio for Development on 020 7064 0700 or email: prisonradio@rfd.org.uk.