Prisoners who are studying should be given laptops or other devices to ensure they can complete their education, according to a report from the Commons’ Education Committee.
Inmates should also have access to online learning resources, it says, although it raises concerns about prisoners having “unfettered” access to the internet.
“If security can be assured and access can be monitored and tightly restricted to educational purposes, we recommend that the Ministry of Justice provide in-cell laptops, such as Chromebooks, to prisoners only when undertaking education,” it says.
The report notes that in December 2020, Ofsted rated just nine out of 32 institutions as “good” for their prison education, with none rated “outstanding”.
