Dyslexia: UK Charity teaches prisoners how to read and write

Patron: Rebecca Harris MP

A PIONEERING scheme aimed at cutting reoffending rates in prisons has been hailed as a success.

UK charity The Cascade Foundation has been carrying out a three-month pilot project in Doncaster Prison to provide education for inmates with dyslexia-related learning difficulties.

The charity teaches offenders basic literacy skills and diagnoses those suffering with learning difficulties.

It is hoped the work will stop prisoners reverting back to a life of crime and provide the skills to keep them on the straight and narrow.

The charity was set up by campaigner Jackie Hewitt-Main in her home in Kents Kill Road, alongside Benfleet councillor Andrew Sheldon and Chelmsford resident Karen Osman.

Ms Hewitt-Main said: “A large number of offenders in British prisons have learning difficulties. If offenders haven’t learned to read and write by the time they finish their sentence, they have little hope of properly interacting with society, getting a job and staying on the straight and narrow.

“We are taking them out of the traditional prison classroom environment with our teaching and setting up a support network of mentors amongst the offenders themselves to give them these skills and get them one step closer to rehabilitation.

Castle Point MP Rebecca Harris, who is dyslexic herself and a founding patron of the charity, added: “I am very proud to be a patron of the Cascade Foundation and it was great to travel up to Doncaster to see first-hand how their efforts are changing the lives of these offenders and through education, cut the chances of them committing further crimes.”

Dyslexia: UK Campaign to help dyslexic prisoners

A CHARITY set up by a Benfleet (UK)  family to help cut re-offending rates in prisons is being rolled out across the country.

Jackie Hewitt-Main, of Kents Hill Road, and her two sons, Stuart and Richard, launched the Cascade Foundation in a bid to stop prisoners reverting back to a life of crime and keep them on the straight and narrow once they have served their sentences.

The organisation will work with dyslexic prisoners in UK prisons and use a multi-sensory learning programme and prisoner mentoring scheme to help them develop basic reading and writing skills needed to get by in everyday life.

Jackie, who suffers from dyslexia herself, said: “After years of struggling, it was an epiphany moment for me when I was diagnosed.

“It is easy to believe you are stupid because you have trouble reading and writing, when actually you are not stupid, you just learn differently from how you were made to try and learn in the classroom.

“If we can diagnose dyslexics in prisons properly, help them come to that realisation and give them the basic reading and writing skills they need to interact with society when they are released, it gives them a real opportunity to turn their lives around.”

Jackie, who is a qualified special educational needs teacher, set up a successful pilot project in Chelmsford Prison in 2006 which was largely attributed to a stark drop in reoffending rates among those who took part.

The national average reoffending rate for prisoners within one year of their release is 50 per cent, but of the prisoners released at the end of Jackie’s scheme, only 6 per cent went on to reoffend.

The charity has been set up in conjunction with Benfleet councillor Andrew Sheldon, who suffers from dyslexia, and Hadleigh-based artist Karen Osman.

Mr Sheldon said: “This programme has the potential to impact upon so many lives, not just the prisoners, but also those who would otherwise become victims of their reoffending.

“The results from the Chelmsford pilot Jackie did a few years ago are so encouraging we felt we had to push to get it rolled out across the country.”

The charity was launched by the Secretary of State for Justice, Chris Grayling, at an event hosted by Castle Point MP Rebecca Harris in the Houses of Parliament earlier this month.

Mr Grayling said: “The fact that what Jackie did was to find people who had been in the criminal system their whole lives and couldn’t even write a letter, is an indication of the challenge we face, that we do need to recognise that within our prisons there are very specific challenges that can be addressed and can be turned round. Dyslexia is very clearly one of them.”

The Cascade Foundation will be launching its next project in Doncaster Prison in August.

Dyslexia Behind bars - Report by Jackie Hewitt-Main

Jackie Hewitt-Main is the driving force behind a remarkable project which might just revolutionise education in prisons in the UK.

Her project, based initially in Chelmsford Prison, has shown that up to 53% of prisoners may have dyslexia and that 21% have suffered a head injury which could have affected their behaviour.

She has pioneered a cost-effective approach to help prisoners learn to read and write and there are clear signs that it could lead to a dramatic drop in re-offending rates.

Terry had been in and out of prison more than 40 times and was self-harming. He was totally frustrated with his inability to read and write and the fact that this was holding him back in a world where jobs, benefits and many social activities require good literacy skills.

He was assessed using Lexion software, a Swedish program which tests for a whole battery of skills and then provides carefully targeted exercises to build knowledge and confidence. He has made great progress and is now one of the prison mentors.

Jackie has adopted a grass roots approach. Learning doesn’t necessarily take place in a classroom because this is not a natural environment for those who have struggled and failed at school.

She introduces learners to visual and tactile approaches and helps them find their own learning style.

“I was 40 when I found I had dyslexia,” said Jackie. ” I realise that my learning disabilities have been a big problem in my life. Many of the prisoners I met in my dyslexia and mentoring project at Chelmsford, including those with the most challenging behaviours, showed such great transformation and went on to help others with the knowledge they had gained.”

It is a shame that much of the publicity surrounding prisons this month centres on Gordon Ramsay – a man who can bully for England- and there is so little mention of the good work in prisons which can help offenders to turn their live around.

Dyslexia Behind Bars: Final Report of a Pioneering Teaching and Mentoring Project at Chelmsford Prison – 4 Years on by Jackie Hewitt-Main (Paperback – Jun 2012) can be bought on Amazon


You can also read more about Empowering Learning for Dyslexia here; OliveHickmott's Blog