Laptops in prisons – how access to computers is helping to reduce violence and boost job prospects

Peter Ranscombe finds out about a project in England and Wales that’s helping prisoners to learn new skills and asks if a similar scheme could be used in Scotland.

The figures behind Scotland’s prison population make for stark reading: the number of people being detained hit a record high of 8,430 in October 2025, breaking the previous record of 8,420 set in 2012. Data released by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) showed that the total included more than 6,000 people who had been sentenced, some 300 who had been convicted but were awaiting sentencing, and in excess of 1,800 who were detained while awaiting trial or deportation.

Yet the numbers only tell half the story. Scotland’s prisons were only designed to hold a maximum of just over 7,800 people, leading to the Scottish Government releasing prisoners early under emergency measures to ease overcrowding. The Prison Officers’ Association has warned repeatedly about overcrowding, understaffing and the threat of violence.

Part of the problem is reoffending – prisoners who are released from jail but then commit further crimes. According to Scottish Government statistics for 2022-23 (published in August 2025), 27.1% of people who left custody or had a community sentence in 2021-22 were reconvicted within 12 months.

Part of the solution is education and training – a review of evidence from England and Wales by Jon Collins, chief executive of the Prisoners’ Education Trust, concluded that prison education and training increased the likelihood of prison leavers finding work and cut the likelihood of reoffending. North and south of the border, prisons are using a variety of methods to give inmates access to education and training while they’re serving their sentences.

Giving prisoners access to laptops

James Tweed founded Coracle in 2006 to give sailors access to online learning. Website connections out at sea were non-existent or unreliable, and so Coracle’s technology allowed crews to download interactive material onto laptops, which then synchronised with servers when ships could reconnect to the internet.

In 2017, James adapted the technology for prisons, which now allows prisoners at 96 jails in England and Wales to access courses from providers including the Open University. Education and training materials are downloaded onto the laptops before they’re sent into prisons, so prisoners can’t access the internet themselves, with James reporting that none of the laptops have been hacked.

Using HM Treasury’s methodology, a report compiled by Crest Advisory found that the Coracle Inside system delivered nearly £35.6 million of benefits for taxpayers – or £16 for every £1 spent – rising to £40.3 million when other societal benefits, such as reducing self-harm and staff absence, were included. The report also found that the service reduced assaults by some 2,000 incidents a year, including more than 200 serious assaults, and helped nearly 1,200 ex-prisoners into work within six months of release.

“When you get access to education, it can really transform people’s lives,” explains James. “Some people question whether giving technology to prisoners could be seen as a reward, but I argue that society has already judged them and they’ve lost their liberty, so if they can use their time in prison productively then it can cut the cost of reoffending.”

Providing support beyond prison

Helping prisoners led James to launch a charity called Rebooted, which gives prisoners’ families reconditioned laptops to help people who would otherwise be excluded from education and other online services. “We saw a trend of people who were being returned to prison and asking for a laptop so they could continue a course,” James explains.

“We asked them why they hadn’t continued the course after they had been released, and they said they didn’t have access to a computer at home. That problem was made worse with so many libraries closing down.

“We also had families coming to us, asking if they could do the same courses. For example, we had mothers who wanted to be able to talk to their sons in prison about their courses, rather than always focusing on the crimes they had committed.”

Rebooted works with probation officers to give ex-prisoners access to laptops, which can then also be used by their children or other family members, giving poorer households access to online services. “Keeping that education opportunity going is just vital,” adds James.

Face-to-face teaching in Scotland

The SPS says that Sheffield-based PeoplePlus took over as the provider of education, learning and development in its prisons in August 2025. Under the current contract, laptops are used in its Lilias and Bella Centres – community custody units, which provide secure accommodation for women and young people – with desktop computers used at its other sites.

“The majority of education and training services are delivered through direct face-to-face contact with learners, but this is augmented through the use of digital content and teaching,” the SPS adds. “PeoplePlus also operates an enhanced screening process that evaluates the needs of individuals in terms of literacy, numeracy, digital capacity, employability and neurodiversity, ensuring the correct support is identified for the individual regardless of when they opt to engage in education.”

Prisoners build an ‘ePortfolio’ during their time in custody, which contains evidence of their work while in jail. “At the point of liberation, this portfolio of achievements helps define what ongoing support can be signposted and included in the individual’s pre-release plan, with the person at the heart of it always keeping a copy,” the SPS adds.

As the Scottish Government prepares to release further tranches of prisoners to ease overcrowding, Sharanne Findlay has become the latest prison governor to warn about the knock-on effects of having too many people in jail at once. Speaking on 4 November as the latest report by Sara Snell – the chief inspector of prisons for Scotland – was published, the governor of Glenochil prison in Clackmannanshire explained that overcrowding was hampering rehabilitation work.

With overcrowding continuing to underline the financial and emotional costs of incarceration, the need for the education, training and rehabilitation of prisoners looks set to remain in the spotlight.