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Reading for rehabilitation

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Reading for rehabilitation, A thematic review by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, January 2026

The report follows reviews in 2022 and 2023 which identified serious deficiencies in the teaching of reading across the prison estate. Depressingly, they found that prisoners with the most need received the least support, education providers were doing little to address low achievement, library opening hours had not recovered since the pandemic and few jails had any sort of prison-wide strategy to promote reading for every prisoner. However, the 2025 visits revealed that some prisons had made huge strides in addressing these problems and that it was possible, even in the most challenging places, to transform the reading offer for prisoners and promote it as an essential component of rehabilitation.  

This report highlights some very positive findings from jails in which committed governors and other leaders had worked together to create a strong reading culture in the prison. Yet we continue to find that reading has not been prioritised with nearly enough commitment in too many prisons. I urge governors and the prison service to use the findings from this report to learn from the best jails and improve provision for those in their care, so that they can create more stable prisons which reduce the risk of future reoffending.
Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor
Read the press release in full