I can’t read or write at all: Diffusion reading group at HMP Downview

May 31, 2019 authise authise

Did you know that SPCK provides free easy-to-read books to prison reading groups? Our Diffusion books are specially written to help prisoners who need to improve their reading confidence so that they are better able to find employment on release. We also work to change, attitudes, thinking and behaviour so that prisoners can build more positive relationships with their families and society.

David Kendall, an independent reading consultant, recently visited the women’s prison HMP Downview in Surrey to run a workshop on Diffusion book, Uprising, by award winning author Alex Wheatle.

Here’s David’s report:

When I arrive at the class the women in the group are unsure of what to make of being asked to read in a group. They all speak English as a second, or even third or fourth, language and it’s a world cup of Uprising Book Cover potential readers: Portugal, Mexico, China, Nepal, Nigeria and England are all playing.

“I can’t read or write at all,” a Traveller Lady from England tells me. “I have to have people read things for me. I can’t read at all.”

We chat about this. Clearly she can read a few small words but is very nervous.

We do some warm up exercises, and it’s clear the group are very mixed in their ability. The ladies from Nigeria are confident and willing to try. China is unsure. Nepal is heavily pregnant. Mexico and Portugal are more willing and Traveller Lady is adamant that reading is not for her.

The warm-ups bond the group and give it focus so that when we do start Uprising they are ready to start. I explain that the book is a true story about the author’s life.

“You need both parents.”. I start reading and then pass over to the Nigeria Ladies. There is a murmur of recognition when the learners realise the book is set in Surry (where HMP Downview is located) and this seems to make them concentrate a little harder. The questions at the end of chapter one about what makes a good home get responses from everyone:

“It’s about love. Everything is about love.”

Portugal demands the dictionary and scours it through.

“Patience,” she proudly announces. “Patience is very important.”

They are keen to start the second chapter. The Nigeria Ladies again take the lead supported by Mexico. The narrative is stop-start with the group chipping in to help with an unfamiliar word, or if someone reads it slightly wrong. The second chapter, with its violence and racism, produces even more dialogue. Some vocabulary needs to be explained ‘scandal’ for instance while ‘sexual abuse’ and all the racist terms in chapter two are already part of a shared language.

We discuss the different types of care homes – some of the women have worked in the care sector and are keen to say how good the care homes that they worked in were. China talks about when she went for a health check and Nepal mainly nods encouragingly.

Traveller Lady says very little. She agrees with the need for love “especially the children” in a good home.

“There’s nothing about jail,” says Portugal. “You said he’d been in jail.”

I explain this is later in the author’s story.

As the discussion goes on I see Traveller Lady never lifts her eyes from the book, her brow furrowed in concentration. She might be using it to avoid my eye but I think she is trying to puzzle out the story, move forward with it. She wants to know what happens.

We pause at chapter 3. The group agree to keep the books in the classroom and return to it each session.

The teacher is delighted. “It’s been such a great discussion she says.”

Traveller Lady has still not put down the book.

David Kendall is an independent reading consultant working on Reading Ahead with learners who speak English as an additional language. He specialises in invoking an interest and passion for books and reading, particularly in groups where reading has become a sticking point in a person’s development and is Patron of Reading at HMP Erlestoke.