PICTA@Lewes

Today the BBC announce that since June 2007 18,600 prisoners have been released 'early' from their sentences to accommodate the general increase in prison population.

With most of those released early almost certainly making up the numbers of those coming back into prison, one has to ask how do we stop re-offending.

In the past the Prison Service has had to concentrate most of its efforts into insuring that prisoners have the grasp of the 3 R's, but in recent times this has changed considerably, with more work based vocational training being made available.

PICTA leads the way with e-learning programs where the student/prisoner learnt at their own pace and in a more friendly environment. At HMP Lewes this is soon to take one step further.

We are currently pursuing funding to install 172 new cells with a variety of training materials fed to the prisoner. This will require the use of a joint TV/computer screen, where educational content can either be via tv like KICKSTART TV or furnished by an educational server via screen/keyboard/mouse.

It is aimed at stimulating the student/prisoner needs in letting them continue learning after their normal daily educational provision has ended. PICTA is aiming to have it's CISCO and ECDL materials hosted on the server to allow students to progress faster than they normally would through the complexities of learning new IT skills.

We are not aiming to replace current teaching provision, but more to enhance it. Prisoners can spend up to 18 out the 24 hours a day 'banged up' and this system allows them to use this time more productively.

I am sure there will be those that will moan that we are bending over backwards for prisoner needs at the detriment of other public services. But I am sure that they would rather prefer a inmate that departs prison with the tools to actively gain employment, rather than drifting back into old habits.