At HMP Ashfield we recognise the difficulties experienced when engaging with the rehabilitation journey for those prisoners who are unable to read. Serco delivers the education and library services at HMP Ashfield and have partnered with The Shannon Trust to deliver the ‘Turning Pages’ best practice initiative which helps those unable to read or with low level reading skills to learn to read.

The programme is delivered for prisoners by prisoners. Specially trained Prison peer mentors deliver one to one mentoring working through the Turning Pages course materials.

To enhance the support offered by the programme HMP Ashfield have gone one step further by mapping their library resource provision to the levels of the Turning Pages course. This allows those on the course to be able to easily find suitable reading materials when visiting the library and prevents them becoming demotivated by selecting books that may not be suitable.

A reading passport scheme also operates at HMP Ashfield which encourages prisoners to read books outside of their normal genre. Once they complete a number of books they receive a reward recognising their successful participation in the scheme.

For higher ability learners at HMP Ashfield there is the opportunity to engage in distance learning through the Open University. HMP Ashfield has one of the highest pass rates for Open University studies in a secure environment. We provide a dedicated distance learning study room with over 15% of the population engaged in distance learning alongside their Ashfield College studies.