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Reducing Re-Offending through Skills and Employment
A response to the Green Paper
Prepared by The Prison Libraries Group on behalf of CILIP: The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals

1. Introduction

1.1 CILIP: The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the professional body that represents over 20,000 library and information workers in the United Kingdom. Under the terms of its Royal Charter, The Institute has a duty to promote high quality library and information services and to advise government, employers and others on all aspects of library and information provision.

1.2 We welcome the opportunity to comment on the consultation document Reducing re-offending through skills and employment.

1.3 We broadly welcome the content of the Green Paper and offer below comments on some aspects.

2. Comment

2.1 Whilst we broadly welcome the content of the Green Paper Reducing re-offending through skills and employment, and the government’s intention to make offender learning a high profile issue, it is very disappointing that there is virtually no mention of the vital role the prison library plays in adding value to learning, training and preparing the offender for release.

2.2 The Government’s vision is “trained for employment, skilled for life.”
One of the most important and transferable skills that people need is the ability to handle and use information in all formats, including the ability to make the best use of ICT resources. Professional library staff are expert in providing and teaching the skill of information handling, known as Information Literacy. Librarians work with people to help them locate, retrieve, understand and communicate appropriate information when it is needed. Information literacy is a key skill for any offender if they are to lead a successful and law-abiding life after release from prison.

2.3 It is vital that prison libraries are enabled to provide Internet access for prisoners. The example on page 31 of the Green Paper – Richard studying for his ECDL - will not be possible without Internet access. Public Libraries have very successfully integrated the People’s Network throughout the whole of the UK. In public libraries over 65 million hours of Internet access are available per year and statistics from 2003-04 show that 23,600 people started a formal education course and 62,400 people reported gaining a new skill as a result of using the People’s Network. Prison libraries can play a similar role when ICT and Internet access for offenders is rolled out. The way that the People’s Network is managed, filtered and monitored in some public library authorities provides an excellent model for the prison service to study.

2.4 For both academic and economic success it is imperative that people are able to read easily. Prison library staff develop reading for pleasure for offenders at all ability levels. Cutting-edge reader development and family learning projects such as Storybook Dads, The Big Book Share and Free with Words, carried out in partnership with organisations such as the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, are helping to demonstrate that reader development activities can contribute to rehabilitation and reduce the likelihood of re-offending.

2.5 Prison libraries offer support to formal learning, through the provision of curriculum materials. Support is also provided for offenders who are learning independently. Access to libraries and information is key to both guided and self-supported leaning.

2.6 Prison library staff should be fully involved in pre-release work with offenders. There is pioneering work taking place at present in a number of public library authorities to help offenders move seamlessly from being a prison library user to becoming a public library user. The ability to make the most of all that a public library has to offer is important in enabling an ex-offender to integrate more easily into their community.

3 Conclusion

3.1 CILIP: The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals broadly welcomes the content of the Green Paper. The comments we have made are in the spirit of support for the overall aims. We hope that our comments prove useful and would appreciate the possibility of further engagement in this debate.

CILIP: The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
Registered Charity No. 313014

For further information please contact:

Kathy Ennis
Senior Adviser
Department of Knowledge and Information
020 7255 0500
kathy.ennis@cilip.org.uk

or
Andy Cooke
Chair Prison Libraries Group
ACooke@leics.gov.uk

Updated: 08 May 2006