On 4 April the School of Law and Criminology, the Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy, and the Department of Education, Maynooth University hosted a seminar on ‘Education in Prison: Perspectives from Europe, Ireland, Scotland and the United States’.
Education in prison has a long history, but the ways in which education is understood, justified, and valued in prison contexts are highly variable. The seminar addressed these questions, reflecting on the kind of education that ought to be offered in prison, the values and principles that ought to underpin this, and its relation to education in wider society. The seminar brought together scholars and policymakers from the United States, Ireland and Scotland.
The seminar was an opportunity to learn from experiences in different jurisdictions, consider common concerns, and provide a space for a fruitful dialogue on charting a way forward for education in prison. With a wealth of knowledge from both practitioner and policy perspectives, the seminar attracted professionals, academics and policymakers involved in education and in criminology. The attendees were from different schools and departments at Maynooth University, the Irish Prison Service, Department of Justice, Gaisce, Dublin City University and Mountjoy Prison School.
Anne Durst from the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater presented on ‘Discussion-based learning in US higher education programmes in prisons’. Kevin Warner was national co-ordinator of education in prison in Ireland from 1979 to 2009, and he asked the question: ‘Education in prison: a human right or ‘a rehabilitation service?’. Anne Costelloe and Jim King are the scientific advisors on the review of Education in Prison (1990) and their presentation addressed some of the key issues in the review. Finally, Cormac Behan from the School of Law and Criminology concluded with ‘Education in Prison - Challenges and Opportunities’.