Need to focus on holistic learning for prisoners

Education has been recognised as a human right that should be available to everyone. It is also one of the underpinning principles of the Education 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). Do prisoners have the right to education and learning opportunities behind the bars? While courts in India have held that the right to life also includes the right to facilities for reading, writing and expressing oneself, the fact remains that security concerns predominate while designing and managing prisons.

The right of prisoners to education is often overlooked or disregarded. Prisoners are also rarely a part of the educational discourse. There is now a convergence about the objectives of rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners.

The Mandela Rules (2015), which are the minimum standards for those imprisoned, specify that the purposes of a sentence of imprisonment are primarily to protect society against crime and reduce recidivism. Those purposes can be achieved only if the period of imprisonment is used to ensure the reintegration of such persons into society upon release so that they can lead a law-abiding and self-supporting life. The rules also state that education, vocational training and work should be available to prisoners.

Prisons around the world have a disproportionate number of persons from poor and marginalised sections of society. In the prisons of the UK and Northern Ireland, 54 per cent of the people entering the prison have literacy skills equal to those of an 11-year-old child.

India’s prison statistics of 2019 on education of inmates reveal that 41.5 per cent (1,98,872) prisoners were educated below the Class-10 level. As many as 1,32,729 (27 per cent) of the 4,78,600 inmates in the country were ‘illiterate’. Around 43 per cent of the prison population is in the age group of 18-30 years.

The implication of providing them with education and training opportunities is huge and challenging. Eventually, prisoners get released and return to society. How they pass their time inside the prison becomes important. Do they acquire any positive new skills or identity?

Merely locking up offenders to punish them is a futile exercise. Prisons can be criminogenic. The continued failure to educate prisoners comes with tremendous economic and social costs. Engaging the youth is important for crime prevention and promotion of the rule of law.

Educational correctional interventions inside prisons equip the inmates for leading a crime-free life after incarceration. Knowledge is power, but does the system want to empower prisoners? Captive knowledge and imagination let free can be challenging.

Educational programmes are being conducted in prisons in the country to transform illiterates into literates. It is heartening to see them learn to sign their names, read newspapers and even do creative writing. Secondary education is being imparted to them by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and graduation and post-graduation courses are being provided by the open universities.

Many of the incarcerated young offenders end up with a disruption to their studies. I recall meeting two bright students of a reputed law university in a prison. They were unable to get even their graduate degree of three years’ study and felt their life was purposeless.

Isolation, uncertainty and lack of positive engagement are detrimental to mental health. The prisoners are prone to joining gangs or turning to addiction. Education and skill training help them chart new life courses. Some prisoners face problems in taking exams and end up losing their key education years. Providing them with a chance to continue with education is critical if society wants positive change.

While prisons lack financial resources, the existing human resources need to be tapped. Educated prisoners are a useful resource in prisons. Only six per cent of the prison inmates were found to be graduates. Around 8,000 prisoners had a post-graduate degree.

The ‘Padho aur Padhao’ (Learn and Teach) scheme being run for illiterate inmates in collaboration with the Ministry of Education was started in some Delhi prisons. Permanent study centres of the NIOS have been opened in various prisons.

Around 47,860 inmates benefited from the elementary education programmes. Indira Gandhi National Open University has initiated a programme for setting up 94 special study centres in prisons across India for the benefit of around 25,000 prisoners.

I was most happy to see a life convict earning his doctorate while in prison. He proudly shared his thesis and after his release, started teaching in a college. Giving a second chance to the released prisoners is important for crime prevention.

There are various barriers to learning behind bars. No teachers, poor motivation or inadequate basic facilities like books, papers, pens and of course space. Some of the prison libraries in India serve as study centres to facilitate the distance learning of prisoners who are enrolled in different courses. Availability of textbooks and reference books is important, and access can be partnership-based.

It is dismaying that prison manuals are scarce in prison libraries. Having legally informed prisoners may also be construed as challenging. Many of the prison reform judgments have originated from the writings of prisoners like Sunil Batra, Prem Shankar Shukla and Rama Murthy.

There is tremendous joy in having access to reading material not only for education, but also for self-reflection or simply recreation. Autobiographies are popular among prisoners. Mahatma Gandhi’s The Story of My Experiments with Truth has changed many lives. While conducting a training programme for prison staff on the reintegration of prisoners, I had invited an ex-prisoner, Laxman Gole, who was previously a gang member but is now a great motivational speaker. He shared how his life changed after reading Gandhi’s works.

Technology is also changing the dynamics of learning behind bars. The Prison Cloud project in Belgium provides limited Internet access to inmates. Learning opportunities in prison need to be framed with a holistic approach. The responsibility of reintegration of prisoners into society lies on both sides of the prison walls.