Policy Press
5 Open universities, close prisons: critical arguments for the future
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Abstract
Drawing on critical social theory and arguments that prison is a profoundly misunderstood institution only loosely related to trends in crime, Earle and Mehigan write against the grain of celebrating the successes of prison education. Anchored in the radical scholarship of OU social science, they seek to extend criticism of imprisonment beyond its reform and toward abolition. Questions of race, racism and colonial patterns of inclusion and exclusion drive an argument that demands a more qualified enthusiasm for prison education.
Abstract
Drawing on critical social theory and arguments that prison is a profoundly misunderstood institution only loosely related to trends in crime, Earle and Mehigan write against the grain of celebrating the successes of prison education. Anchored in the radical scholarship of OU social science, they seek to extend criticism of imprisonment beyond its reform and toward abolition. Questions of race, racism and colonial patterns of inclusion and exclusion drive an argument that demands a more qualified enthusiasm for prison education.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Openings and introductions: education for the many, prison for the few 1
- From prisoner to student 11
- Pioneers and politics: Open University journeys in Long Kesh during the years of conflict 1972–75 33
- A university without walls 51
- Open universities, close prisons: critical arguments for the future 73
- The light to fight the shadows: on education as liberation 97
- From despair to hope 111
- Straight up! From HMP to PhD 125
- From Open University in prison to convict criminology upon release: mind the gap 139
- From the school of hard knocks to the university of hard locks 153
- Becoming me with The Open University 165
- From D102 to Paulo Freire: an Irish journey 179
- Ex-prisoners and the transformative power of higher education 195
- What the OU did for me 213
- Appendix: Study with The Open University 225
- Index 227
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Openings and introductions: education for the many, prison for the few 1
- From prisoner to student 11
- Pioneers and politics: Open University journeys in Long Kesh during the years of conflict 1972–75 33
- A university without walls 51
- Open universities, close prisons: critical arguments for the future 73
- The light to fight the shadows: on education as liberation 97
- From despair to hope 111
- Straight up! From HMP to PhD 125
- From Open University in prison to convict criminology upon release: mind the gap 139
- From the school of hard knocks to the university of hard locks 153
- Becoming me with The Open University 165
- From D102 to Paulo Freire: an Irish journey 179
- Ex-prisoners and the transformative power of higher education 195
- What the OU did for me 213
- Appendix: Study with The Open University 225
- Index 227
