{"id":3256,"date":"2023-06-26T08:19:37","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T08:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/?p=3256"},"modified":"2023-06-26T08:20:38","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T08:20:38","slug":"prisoner-literacy-when-you-pick-up-a-book-youre-not-thinking-of-being-locked-in-the-cell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/?p=3256","title":{"rendered":"Prisoner literacy: \u2018When you pick up a book you\u2019re not thinking of being locked in the cell\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1248px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:0px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p style=\"color: rgb(242, 241, 236);\">Literacy ambassadors say they tell prisoners: \u2018It\u2019s not like learning when we were in school. It\u2019s completely different\u2019<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: rgb(242, 241, 236);\">\u201cIt was the first time in my life I had positive role models,\u201d says Paul O\u2019Rourke, of his time in prison. It\u2019s 10.30 in the morning and he\u2019s speaking to a classroom full of prisoners in the middle of Portlaoise Prison. He talks softly and passionately about how he embraced learning and is now a student in Cork. Prison governor Ultan Moran is here, as is the headmaster of the prison\u2019s school, David Higgins, some representatives from NALA (National Adult Literacy Agency) and several teachers from the school including English and literacy teacher Shauna Gilligan.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: rgb(242, 241, 236);\">A very large number of prisoners have issues with literacy. NALA reports that 70 per cent of prisoners left school at about 14 years of age. During O\u2019Rourke\u2019s visit, 15 prisoners are being awarded certificates to indicate they are trained NALA literacy ambassadors and each man has been allowed to bring a friend from their prison block. I interviewed some of the original ambassadors in early 2022. O\u2019Rourke was also involved in the early years of the programme. Ambassadors are trained to help their fellow inmates with reading and writing and to encourage them to engage with the teachers at the school. The programme pioneered here has, since I last reported on it, spread to eight other prisons, sometimes assisted by men who were transferred from Portlaoise.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/life-style\/2023\/06\/24\/prisoner-literacy-when-you-pick-up-a-book-youre-not-thinking-of-being-locked-in-the-cell\/?s=03\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"color: rgb(255, 145, 77);\">Read more here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3256"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3259,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3256\/revisions\/3259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speirenua.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}