There are currently 190,000 (and rising) children in the U.K. who are being raised by a parent in prison. This is more than the number of people living in Exeter. These are real children facing real issues.
Most children in schools are focused on homework or practicing their football. However, these children are dealing with an entirely different burden: the stigma, social isolation, and digital poverty associated with having a parent who has been imprisoned. There is hope though. The first step towards addressing this issue is quite simple — give the children a laptop.
The Unseen Burden of Digital Poverty
Online learning is here to stay, and education will increasingly take place online; homework will be completed through school portals; tutoring will take place over video calls, and job applications will increasingly demand some form of digital literacy. Unfortunately, however, children of prisoners will be at least three times more likely to be denied access to a computer, a reliable internet connection, and/or the digital skills required to compete with their peers.
Without access to digital technologies, these children cannot submit online assignments, cannot attend remote tutoring sessions, cannot gain the IT skills needed to obtain employment, and cannot engage in video calls with their incarcerated parent, the only way many prisoners can connect with their children.
Why Education Works for Both Prisoners and Their Children
Here’s a little-known statistic that should get the attention of policymakers everywhere: prisoners who participate in education programs are 13% less likely to reoffend [1].
This means thousands of families remain intact, thousands of children do not experience the trauma of seeing their parent return to prison and thousands of communities become safer because prisoners remain in education programs.
Education supports prisoners in several ways:
Employment Opportunities – Digital skills, vocational qualifications and basic literacy provide prisoners with the opportunity to find legitimate employment, which is the primary way to prevent re-offending.
Dignity – Education provides prisoners with a sense of purpose, self-worth and hope for a better future. Education also reminds prisoners that they are more than their worst mistakes.
Families Strengthened – When prisoners and their children both learn together (for example, they share coursework, discuss lessons, and celebrate achievements), the prisoner-parent relationship becomes stronger and more resilient despite the physical distance created by imprisonment.
Breaking the Cycle – Children of prisoners are three times more likely to enter the criminal justice system themselves [2]. When children of prisoners see their parents engaged in education and improving themselves, they begin to see alternative options to entering the justice system.
The Larger Picture - Stopping The Pattern Of Crime
Crime in the UK results in an annual cost of £18 billion for the country as a whole [3].
This money would otherwise go into areas such as education, health and local communities; instead, this money is going towards police officers, courts, prisons and victim services.
However, there are far greater consequences from committing a crime than simply costing the taxpayer money - committing a crime will often create a never-ending cycle of:
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The parent gets sentenced to prison
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The child suffers from traumatic stress and is held back in school
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The family is now living below the poverty line and is digitally excluded
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A child has three times the chance of being a future offender
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The cycle repeats itself
Educating prisoners and their families using technology provides the "circuit breaker" for the cycle of crime. Using donated laptops and providing learning resources to prisoners and their families is not simply educating a few people; it is breaking a generation-long pattern of offending, poor economic conditions, and social exclusion.
Help Rebooted
Rebooted's vision is large: to provide laptops and educational assistance to many hundreds of families throughout the UK, however, Rebooted cannot complete this task without the assistance of other organizations.
Companies - If your company is replacing its IT equipment and has some unused laptops, please consider donating these to Rebooted. Email us at hello@rebooted.me
There are several ways to contribute to the mission of Rebooted. Please see below for a list of options available to you:
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Donate money through Rebooted's JustGiving page
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Share information about Rebooted on social media
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Connect Rebooted with companies that may be willing to donate laptops
Every child should have access to education. Every person who has committed a crime should have the chance to rehabilitate themselves. Every family should have hope.
The question is not if we can afford to give help. The real question is whether or not we can afford not to?
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1.https://www.college.police.uk/research/crime-reduction-toolkit/education-prison
3.https://www.gov.uk/government/news/justice-secretary-urges-evidence-led-approach-to-cut-crime