Interview with EPEA Chair Thomas Wüthrich in the recent newsletter of the
UNESCO Chair in Applied Research in Education in Prison.
The June newsletter featured a written interview with the EPEA Chair, in which he talks about his career, his international experience and the EPEA’s position regarding Education in Prison (p. 14-17)
Link to the Newsletter Archive
A reality check on the digitalisation of prisons:
Assessing the opportunities and risks of providing digital technologies for prisoners
by Veronika Hofinger et al., University of Innsbruck, Austria
While our societies are developing into digital information societies, most prisoners do not have access to modern information and communications technologies. Smart prisons that provide digital devices for prisoners aim to grant prisoners more autonomy, provide access to education and information, strengthen contact with relatives and friends and reduce the effects of deprivation. The concept of ‘digital rehabilitation’ suggests that digital devices have a positive effect on rehabilitation in various areas. Nonetheless, technological developments also entail risks that go beyond security concerns such as misuse of the devices by prisoners. Based on qualitative interviews with Austrian prisoners and theoretical reflections on the opportunities and risks of digital technologies in prison, we point out ambivalences and possible negative effects for prisoners that have received little attention so far. We outline the importance of a needs-oriented implementation in order to avoid negative outcomes such as a mere expansion of surveillance, an outsourcing of institutional responsibility, a loss of important social interactions and a deepening of the digital divide within the institution. In this paper, we further contend that the selective digital transformation of prisons can function as a ‘Potemkin façade’ enabling prisons to present themselves as modern without structurally improving the conditions of the majority of the prison population. These risks, which might be less obvious than security concerns, must be taken into account when evaluating and implementing digitalisation strategies.
Handbook on the Use of Technology in Prison Settings – UN Office on Drugs and Crime
The Nelson Mandela Rules are clear in linking the ultimate purposes of imprisonment, namely, the protection of society from crime and the prevention of recidivism, subject to a rehabilitative approach to prison management that enhances the ability and willingness of prisoners to lead law-abiding and self-supporting lives with a view to fostering their social reintegration upon release. Investments in tailored and quality prison-based rehabilitation programming, other constructive activities and continued contact with the outside world are therefore key for any prison administration. Read in particular Chapter 11 “Rehabilitation and contact with the outside world”, p. 87 – 100, with recommendations.
Learning to Get Out of the Wing:
The Motivation of Learners Incarcerated in Québec Provisional Prisons
by Frédérick Armstrong, Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in Applied Research for Education in Prison, Montréal in: Journal of Prison Education Research Vol 10, Issue 1, Article 6
41 men and women incarcerated in provincial prisons of Québec were asked why they enrolled in educational activities. Relying on self-determination theory to describe and categorize their motivations, I found that most respondents had extrinsic motivations to participate in educational activities and that only three respondents could be described as intrinsically motivated. Respondents joined programmes to escape boredom, to receive financial compensation or to receive some other benefits; not for the pleasure of learning. These results are different from other research reporting that a majority of incarcerated learners were intrinsically motivated. After addressing this contrast, I conclude it is more likely that most incarcerated learners are initially motivated by extrinsic factors. However, our data also shows that motivation can change and deepen during participation. In this context, education practitioners should not try to avoid attracting learners with financial incentives or other extrinsic motivators. Learning to get out of the wing is as good a reason as any.
“Imagination meets music”: Charity makes music with prison inmates
There was live music at Hohenleuben Prison (Thuringia, Germany) in January 2026. The inmates themselves took centre stage. Together with scholarship holders from the “Live Musik now Weimar” association, their thoughts are being turned into music.
3’ video in German with German subtitles here.
(available until July 2nd, 2026,)