The benefits

Challenge

Our groups build stamina and commitment and they encourage members to discuss what they read with thoughtfulness and mutual respect.

‘This prison reading group is a wonderful thing, because I would never have read such a book on the outside, and it’s changed my point of view completely’

‘I got an offer to study English and Comparative Literature. The reading group was a fantastic first step towards a new future’

Connection

Books connect us – to family and friends, to the wider world and to ourselves. PRG groups strengthen all of these ties. They foster respect and mutual support that can be hard to find in prison.

‘We had one guy attending for the first time who said how wonderful he found it to have been made so welcome…everyone sat and listened and discussed with one another with such courtesy’

Books can also connect group members with family.

‘My daughter shadow reads our group books and having this connection with my family has kept us strong and dedicated to one another’

Change

Research confirms that rehabilitation is a process. Our groups are open-ended rather than fixed-term projects. They promote relationships and skills over time and prisoners remain members for as long as they choose.

‘Thanks to the group I persevere with books and I’m so pleased when I get to the end. Now I’ve got to do the same thing with people. I need to stick with them, give them more of a chance, read a few more of their chapters’