ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines learnings from a three-year programme, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, which specifically explores education for young people up to age 25 in custody through a number of objectives. The objectives are bringing distance learning into young offender institution (YOIs); expanding access into university: pilot of a prison-university partnership for young adults and strengthening relationships within YOIs. This programme also points to the current problems of prisons as institutions which are designed to restrict and control through various values, rules, and rituals; these are at odds with the notion that prisoners can be encouraged to learn through participation and transformative learning. The chapter also seeks to guide efforts to develop human and social capital, which is particularly relevant to younger learners where education can support the transitions to adulthood and where peer support, social contact, and 'banter' are arguably important aspects of youth.
