Stoke Heath Prison budget cuts 'limiting education for inmates'
A new report has found that education budget cuts at Stoke Heath Prison has resulted in fewer job opportunities for inmates when they are released.
The annual independent monitoring board report found that just a quarter of prisoners had courses at the site near Market Drayton between May 2019 and April this year.
Inspectors now recommended that inmates be given English and maths classes early before being transferred to other prisons to complete sentences in a bid to tackle the situation.
The report stated: "Currently, there are education courses for 110 prisoners every morning and 88 prisoners every afternoon – about a quarter of the prison population.
"In addition, 10 prisoners are being trained as mentors to support and motivate individuals through education. Many prisoners come to Stoke Heath towards the end of their sentence and take up places in English and mathematics at a low level because other establishments have failed to provide sufficient education.
"Other courses provided include catering, traffic management and the construction industry passport."
"In April 2019, 35 per cent of prisoners did not have a purposeful activity, compared with 39 per cent in April 2020, although this may improve post-Covid-19."
Support
It further stated: "The prison has a detailed action plan and endeavours to provide prisoners with the support needed for resettlement. However, the low rates of purposeful activity and employment upon release are indicative of the work and resource required to make improvements. The budget for both education and vocational training is totally insufficient to meet resettlement needs."
"Levels of employment on release are still very low. Much more resource needs to be allocated to vocational skills and qualifications that are in demand.
"While funding for education and purposeful activity from the Prison Service is woefully inadequate, the board hopes that other sources of funding and resources can be attracted into the prison from private enterprise."
The report also praised the prison's efforts to increase the number of Category D inmates in the neighbouring Clive Unit who either have external jobs or are in full-time education.
It said the prison was safe and that inmates were being treated fairly.
However, it highlighted ongoing issues with lack of accountability for prisoners' lost property and that there were too few communal telephones available for inmates to use to contact relatives at peak times.
