By Paul Davies, Labour MP for the Colne Valley

Over 50% of adults in UK prisons are considered functionally illiterate. Upon release, this is a key barrier to reintegration – to a life on the outside – and acts as a potent contributor to re-offending.

Ironically, the writing is on the wall: unless we tackle illiteracy in prisons, we will continue to be plagued by high rates of re-offending.

Whenever we talk about reducing crime, the conversation all too often gravitates toward tougher sentences or more policing.

Yet, the Prisons Literacy Project, spearheaded by myself and world best-selling author Lee Child, offers a refreshingly pragmatic alternative: tackle re-offending by improving literacy.

The logic is compelling. It costs £55,000 a year to keep someone in prison. If boosting literacy can cut re-offending by even 10%, the savings to taxpayers are enormous – not to mention the human benefit of fewer victims and more rehabilitated lives.

This isn’t about being “soft on crime.” As Lee Child quipped: “Just look at my Jack Reacher books!” It’s about evidence-based solutions that work.

Since August 2025, we have been active putting the theory into practice at five locations across the north of England: HMPs Kirklevington Grange, Millsike, New Hall, Leeds and Doncaster.

At each prison, a three-visit model was adopted, focusing on direct interaction with the inmates.

At Visit 1, we first meet the governor and the senior management team of each prison to brief them about the project’s aims, emphasising that this will be an iterative process.

Without the engagement and support of all the staff at these prisons, the project simply would not be possible: their input is crucial.

Following this, Lee then holds a Q&A session with either a large group of prisoners or a handful of smaller focus groups.

Lee chats with participants about his own love of reading and how he wants to be part of their journey to improve their literacy skills.

Of course, the session often reflects the prisoners’ interest in the Jack Reacher novels, as well as the films and Amazon Prime series.

Unsurprisingly, there always tends to be a lively discussion about the casting of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher!

After the visit, Lee personally writes to certain prisoners involved in Visit 1 to offer them a deal:

‘Read my first book “Killing Floor”, and I’ll come back and we can talk about it. You can tell me if you liked it, and which parts you thought were best.

Then we can talk about what kind of things you could read next. Or, if you want to write a story of your own – maybe a made-up story, or the story of your own life, or a story about a real-life situation that interests you – we can talk about how to do that.’

Following this, Lee donates 75 copies of his very first novel, Killing Floor, for the prisoners. Combined with targeted literacy support sessions run by the prison’s incredible education teams, the stage is set for visit 2a and 2b.

Ideally four to six weeks after the first visit, Visit 2a takes a particular focus on reading. Here, Lee returns to facilitate discussions about the prisoners’ experience reading Killing Floor.

Prisoners are encouraged to reflect on the power of reading, the impact it has on them and the importance of voicing their opinions in the constructive fashion that the session permits.

At HMP Doncaster, we quickly learned about the prisoners’ deep interest in my work as a Member of Parliament.

This whole project has been a continuous learning process, and this was quite the unexpected discovery.

What resulted was the formation of Visit 2b dubbed the ‘Democracy Session’. At this visit, I lead a non-party political, House of Commons style debate.

Six inmates speak in favour of a topic – as chosen by the prisoners themselves – and six against. After a thorough debate and careful consideration, 40 prisoners acting as ‘backbenchers’ hold a vote on the topic.

At HMP Doncaster – where the debate in question was on votes for 16-year-olds – the investment and dedication of the prisoners involved was a testament to the success of the Democracy Session. They even built their own cardboard ‘Speakers Chair’!

This session was a clear example of the determination of prisoners to immerse themselves within the project and the Democracy Sessions.

Finally, we arrive at Visit 3, termed ‘From Sentence to Story’. Stemming from the realisation that many of the men and women involved in the project wanted to improve their own writing skills, this visit follows up on a task set by Lee after Visit 2:

‘I want you to write something. It can be anything you want – a true story about you, or your family, or your life, or a made-up story about anything you want. You could do one or two sentences, or one or two pages. I’ll read it, and we can discuss it, and you can tell me how you felt about doing it, and we can plan to do more, if you like.’

At HMP Doncaster, this was marvellously received, resulting in 49 men writing one to three sentences and 20 men submitting pieces of writing up to three pages worth (the maximum they were allowed).

Lee receives this work in advance of the visit and gives his constructive feedback to the prisoners in person.

In January, Lee and I had the honour of holding a roundtable meeting in Parliament attended by the governors and heads of education of all involved prisons; key civil servants; and the Minister for Prisons and Probation, Lord Timpson.

This was the perfect opportunity to celebrate the success of the project so far and set our sights on the next stages as we seek to expand to 25 prisons by 2027.

The support of the Minister, combined with the announcement of Lee Child’s ‘Never Go Back Foundation’ are two crucial pieces of the puzzle for what started as a candid discussion to become a revolutionary initiative to reduce reoffending rates nationally.

So, that’s the story. If we truly want safer communities, we must invest in solutions that break cycles of crime. Literacy is not a luxury; it’s a lifeline.

Every prisoner we involve is another person, another life, that has the means to choose a better path upon release. This means reintegration, not reoffending; a step forward, not two steps back.

If you would like to learn more about the project and follow its progress, please visit my website: https://pauldavies.uk/