Shrewsbury prison launches new education programme

Shrewsbury Prison has launched an educational programme that will get children behind bars to show them the reality of crime in the UK.

It comes as crime rates among young people are increasing through knife crime, cyber attacks and theft.

Education Behind Bars is the first programme of its kind, being delivered in real heritage-led prisons to highlight the shocking truth of how hard life is behind bars and how prisons have changed over the centuries to what they are now.

It's been created by a team of specialists in education and history.

The programme is aligned with the national curriculum and has been designed to support learning through thought provoking exercises and activities.

Joel Campbell, CEO of Cove Group, who created the programme said: “We wanted to create a new style of programme to tackle the rising crime rates, and wanted something meaningful which truly educates the next generation. Creating an immersive experience coupled with traditional education allows us to open the imagination of each individual student, from here we can begin to educate on crime and punishment, and how both have had an impact on our society.

"It just made sense that the best way to tackle rising crime rates in the young, is to show them first-hand what life behind bars is like and connecting them with the reality of this unseen world.

"It’s our belief that, every student should experience this programme and it should be part of the national curriculum at each Key Stage."

Education Behind Bars is being delivered nationally across decommissioned prisons launching at Shrewsbury Prison in Shropshire and Shepton Mallet Prison in Somerset, with more locations due to launch in 2023.