Ireland: prison university project to "bring third-level to those furthest away from it"

The Mountjoy and Maynooth University (MJMU) project aims to become a template across the prison service to “disrupt the inevitability” of a life in and out of the prison system for many offenders.

Dr Rose Ryan, director of the access programme in MU, said while the university was already involved in educational projects in the prison, the MJMU initiative was a “formal partnership”. It would build on the work of the City of Dublin Education and Training Board, which provides education in the prison, to enable offenders continue in education.

“There is often a perception that people who are in prison are completely lost to society. In fact there are many who, when given the right opportunities and strong mentoring bridges into education, are wonderful students, who contribute a lot to the university and who can completely transform not only their own lives but also the lives of their families“ Current and former prisoners will be eligible, she said, “to support their reintegration into society“

Among those who has transformed his life is “Jack”, from Dublin. Following prison he could not get even low-skilled work due to his “previous convictions”. He regrets “huge stigma” faced by young people from his background, for whom a life on the margins and even in the criminal justice system can feel inevitable, and that he needs to remain anonymous because of this.