Educating Criminals in Nineteenth-Century England

如今，英国监狱中的男女囚犯文盲率居高不下。下议院教育和技能委员会2005年发表的一份关于监狱教育的报告指出，50%的男女囚犯有阅读能力，66%有计算能力，82%的人有写作能力，达到或低于11岁的预期水平，而52%的男性囚犯和71%的女性囚犯没有资格，而总人口中这一比例为15%。根据这一证据，决策者和刑事官员仍然相信，有必要在监狱内制订方案，解决囚犯的教育缺陷问题。然而，不太清楚的是，这些证据应在多大程度上为制定监狱教育方案提供信息，以及这些方案应如何与广泛而往往相互冲突的监禁目标联系起来。此外，这些问题绝不是新的。从19世纪初开始，监狱成为英国主要的惩罚形式，人们开始关注囚犯的教育缺陷，并通过了立法，其中包括对囚犯进行识字技能指导的规定。阅读和写作)，并收集统计数据，以突出囚犯的文盲情况，并支持教育方案的发展。因此，对囚犯的教育已成为我国现代刑罚制度演变的一个核心要素。然而，到目前为止，还没有关于19世纪英国囚犯教育出现的研究，这是我们在知识和理解方面的一个重大空白，本研究项目旨在填补这一空白。具体来说，这个项目旨在揭示1823年《监狱法案》（the Gaol Act）通过，政府首次为囚犯教育立法，到1895年格莱斯顿委员会（Gladstone Committee）召集调查英国监狱教育的规模、性质和影响。在19世纪的大部分时间里，英国的刑罚制度既分散又融合了各种刑罚机构。因此，为了确保这项研究是全面的，本项目将探讨在地方监狱、国家监狱、公共工程监狱、废船和囚犯船上制定的教育方案。为此，它将结合一系列来自“官方”和“普通”来源的证据，其中大部分在档案中基本上没有被触及。例如，虽然监狱检查员的报告、特别委员会的调查结果和内政部制定的政策文件将用于编制一份关于这一时期囚犯教育的广泛调查，但这将辅以详细的案例研究，这些研究基于监狱管理者、牧师、护士长、校长和外科主管的期刊和报告，他们都在不同时期负责他们监管下的囚犯的教育。监狱登记册所载的数量证据将用于记录囚犯在监禁期间获得技能和使用这些技能（包括批准的和非法的）的情况。囚犯自己创造的记录，包括日记、自传和手稿信件(即：将使用“普通”来源)来努力恢复囚犯的声音。这些证据将用于解决四个广泛的问题：19世纪囚犯教育的目的是什么；用什么方法对犯人进行识字训练？在刑罚环境中，阅读和写作是如何教育囚犯正确使用这些技能的？囚犯能在多大程度上利用阅读和写作的技能在强制性的刑罚环境中重新获得他们的代理？

Rates of illiteracy remain stubbornly high among men and women confined in British prisons today. A House of Commons Education and Skills Committee report on Prison Education published in 2005 stated that 50% of male and female prisoners had reading skills, 66% had numeracy skills and 82% had writing skills at or below that expected of an 11 year old, while 52% of male and 71% of female prisoner had no qualifications compared with 15% of the general population. On the basis of this evidence policymakers and penal officials remain convinced of the necessity of programmes within prisons which address the educational deficiencies of prisoners. Less clear, however, is the extent to which such evidence should inform the development of prison education programmes, and how these programmes should relate to the broad and often conflicting aims of imprisonment.Moreover, these problems are by no means new. From the early decades of the nineteenth century, the moment at which the prison became the predominant form of punishment in England, concern was expressed about the educational deficiencies of prisoners, legislation was passed which contained provision for the instruction of prisoners in the literate skills (ie. reading and writing), and statistics were assembled to highlight the illiteracy of prisoners and support the development of educational programmes. The education of prisoners has therefore formed a core element in the evolution of our modern penal system. Yet, to date, there exists no study on the emergence of prisoner education in nineteenth-century England, a significant gap in our knowledge and understanding which this research project intends to fill.Specifically, this project aims to uncover the scale, character and impact of prisoner education between 1823, the passing of the Gaol Act, in which the government first legislated for the instruction of prisoners, and 1895, when the Gladstone Committee was convened to inquire into the provision of education in British prisons. For much of the nineteenth century, the English penal system was both decentralised and incorporated a variety of penal institutions. Thus to ensure that the study is comprehensive, this project will explore educational programmes developed in local prisons, national penitentiaries, public works prisons, hulks and convict ships. To this end, it will combine a range of evidence from 'official' and 'ordinary' sources, much of which remains largely untouched in the archives. For instance, while the reports of prison inspectors, select committee findings and policy documents formulated by the Home Office will be used to compile a broad survey of prisoner education across the period, this will be supplemented by detailed case studies based on the journals and reports of prison governors, chaplains, matrons, schoolmasters, and surgeon-superintendents, all of whom were responsible for the education of prisoners under their supervision at different moments. The quantitative evidence contained in prison registers will be used to chart the acquisition of the skills and the use of those skills (both sanctioned and illegal) by inmates over the course of their imprisonment. Records created by the prisoners themselves, including journals, autobiographies and manuscript letters (i.e. 'ordinary' sources) will be employed in an effort to recover the prisoner's voice.This evidence will be used to address four broad questions: what were the aims of prisoner education in the nineteenth century; what methods were employed to instruct prisoners in the literate skills; how did the practice of reading and writing within the penal environment educate prisoners in the appropriate use of the skills; and how far could prisoners use the skills of reading and writing to reclaim their agency within the coercive penal environment?