High-risk prisoners sit GCSE English – and many outperform peers on outside

HMP Bedford prisoners read books in the library. ‘Studies have shown education helps prisoners become more settled, less aggressive,’ says Jo Watmore, HMP Frankland’s education manager. Photograph: David Sillitoe/The Guardian

Prisoners serving long sentences at one of the UK’s most secure jails have sat GCSE English and outperformed many of their peers on the outside.

More than three-quarters (78%) of the small cohort of prisoners who sat the exam at HMP Frankland in County Durham secured a pass at grade 4 or above – equivalent to a C – which is almost three times the success rate for resits in further education colleges in England, according to their teachers.