Comment by throwaway301010

This 100%. Basic literacy & numeracy is stunningly low in UK prisons & improving basic education has been shown to improve reoffending rates greatly, in policy terms it ought to be a no-brainer but as you say the NGOs & charities in this space are starved of cash, mental health & addiction charities would slash offending rates, - but the government throws hundreds of millions of £ at contractors like Serco & G4S who can afford to lobby hard & donate to party funds, but who squander it.