Unlocking Learning

International Perspectives on Education in Prison

Edited by Justin McDevitt and Mneesha Gellman

Distributed for Brandeis University Press

Unlocking Learning

International Perspectives on Education in Prison

Edited by Justin McDevitt and Mneesha Gellman

Contributors from many countries share their insights about effective educational programs for people in prison and show what the United States can learn from the models and struggles beyond its borders.

Countries around the world have disparate experiences with education in prison. For decades, the United States has been locked in a pattern of exceptionally high mass incarceration. Though education has proven to be an impactful intervention, its role and the level of support it receives vary widely. As a result, effective opportunities for incarcerated people to reroute their lives during and after incarceration remain diffuse and inefficient. This volume highlights unique contributions from the field of education in prison globally. In this volume, academics and practitioners highlight new approaches and interesting findings from carceral interventions across twelve countries. From a college degree-granting program in Mexico to educational best practices in Norway and Belgium that support successful reentry, innovations in education are being developed in prison spaces around the world. As contributors from many countries share their insights about providing effective educational programs to incarcerated people, the United States can learn from the models and struggles beyond its borders.

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Reviews

“A thoughtful, thorough, and well-organized look into education in prison. (The Editors) have covered a substantial amount of ground so that whether the reader is well-versed in higher education, criminal justice, criminology, sociology, or not, they can open the book, which begins at the inception of education in prison, and learn about the evolution and practical challenges, constraints and success of education globally. This piece provides an incredibly important and insightful look into education in prison and leaves the reader with much to contemplate and a critical lens into considering what’s next for the fields of both education and criminology.”

British Journal of Criminology

“An essential practical, theoretical and evidence-informed resource about the question of education in prison. This book offers hope to those jurisdictions mired in high rates of incarceration or challenging environments in prison that other visions for both education and other models of the penal system are not only possible, but already exist.”

Aislinn O’Donnell, Maynooth University

“This important volume brings a much-needed international perspective to the study and practice of higher education in prisons. Practitioners will find a wealth of information to validate, inform, and inspire their own work here, but it is often what goes unsaid or is assumed in the countries represented in this volume that shows us glimpses of the possible—what education in prison can and
should be.”

Kurtis Tanaka, Justice Initiatives, Ithaka S+R

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Foreword
Justin Watson
Acknowledgments
Introduction: What We Can Learn from Education in Prison in Comparative Context
Mneesha Gellman and Justin McDevitt
PART I: CONTEXTUALIZING EDUCATION IN PRISON
1: The Long History of College-in-Prison
Max Kenner
2: The Work of Restoration: How to Educate When Education Fails
Maria K. McKenna
PART II: INNOVATIONS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING BEHIND THE WALL
3: College Now!: A Public University Goes behind the Wall in Mexico City
Natasha Bidault Mniszek
4: Education and Training in Austrian Prisons: Essential Pieces in the Reintegration Puzzle
Walter Hammerschick
5: Learning behind Bars: Education and Reintegration in Dutch Prisons
Chester Lee
6: Evaluating Education in Norwegian Prisons: Research-Based Approaches
Lise Øen Jones, Torfinn Langelid, Terje Manger, Paal Breivik, and Arve Asbjørnsen
7: Who Benefits Most from Correctional Education? A View from Slovakia
Silvia Lukácová, Dominika Temiaková, and Marek Lukác
8: Preparing for Release: Academic and Vocational Education for Incarcerated Persons in Polish Executive Criminal Law
Grzegorz A. Skrobotowicz
PART III: CHALLENGING THE SILENCING OF MARGINALIZED VOICES
9: Authorship in Prison: Stories of Identity, Resilience, and Renewal from El Salvador
Jennifer Coreas
10: Rethinking Education and Mediation for Incarcerated Immigrants in Italy
Maria Garro, Massimiliano Schirinzi, Gioacchino Lavanco, and Michelangelo Capitano
11: Effectiveness of Peer Learning and Peer Support in Prison: An International Realist Review of Outcomes, Mechanisms, and Contextual Factors
Dorien Brosens, Silke Marynissen, and Liesbeth De Donder
Conclusion: Drawing Lessons from Comparative Education in Prison
Justin McDevitt and Mneesha Gellman
Contributors
Index

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