Prisoners in the UK could be getting iPads for education and to ‘video chat their families’

The iPad is a powerful tool, especially when it comes to education, and a new proposal in the United Kingdom suggests prisoners should be taking advantage of the mobile devices.
According to a report published by The Telegraph, an adviser to the Ministry of Justice in the United Kingdom has made it clear that iPads should be a tool used in the prison system to help those detained with literacy and numeracy. On top of that, the prisoners should be able to keep in touch with their families from within their cells, utilizing things like FaceTime or Skype to “video chat their families.”

According to the former head of the prison service, having iPads in cells could make the time that prisoners spend within them more constructive:

“Prisoners spend a lot of time in cells, and we need to make that time more constructive. They should be meeting a tutor once a week, but doing work on literacy and numeracy on their own. We could look at giving prisoners iPads to work on in their cells.”

At the same time, Dame Sally Coates, a former headteacher in the area, is also conducting a review of education within the UK prison system, and is also considering the proposal. Coates says that if a prisoner doesn’t have the necessary skills to get a job after a stint in prison, then they are more likely to reoffend.
At the time of publication, Justice Minister Michael Gove is looking over the proposals, but a decision has not been made yet.
[via Gizmodo UK; The Telegraph]

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