How literacy reduces reoffending - the impact of Diffusion books

July 12, 2019 authise authise

In an evening spent with Olympic rower Debbie Flood we find out how reading in prisons can help reduce reoffending. Debbie Flood experienced this impact first-hand in her role as prison officer. 

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On a sunny Thursday evening, we held a successful event to support Diffusion in Putney at the London Rowing Club. Diffusion is one of our programmes which helps prisoners improve their reading skills and can help reduce reoffending. SPCK has now given away 10,000 specially-written books completely free to organisations that work with prisoners, young offenders and people at risk of offending, which needs more funds to continue! The books not only help prisoners improve their skills and employability, and therefore reduce their chances of reoffending, but they can really change their attitudes to reading and to their relationships with other people.

We were delighted to host Debbie Flood, a prominent member of Christians in Sport and twice silver Olympic medallist rower, as a speaker. We were also thrilled to have joining us, Andy Frost, author of the acclaimed Long Story Short and Director of Share Jesus International.

Debbie has a special connection with SPCK programmes and works closely with Diffusion. In the lead up to the event Debbie was interviewed by SPCK’s Partnerships Director, Primavera Quantrill, saying, 

SPCK does a great job of resourcing so many areas. Whether it be schools, prisons, or people thinking about faith, access to information is really key, particularly with outreach in prisons. That’s something which interested me because of being a prison officer. I know just how much the lack of literacy and numeracy and positive messages has a huge impact on prisoners. As well as helping them learn to read and build their confidence, the positive messages that the Diffusion books give is something so valuable. It’s a great privilege to be involved and to be helping with raising money for that.

You can read more about Primavera's interview here >>

The event started at 7pm with guests being greeted at the door, everyone met at the drinks reception. Guest enjoyed canapes and drinks, meeting new acquaintances and our lovely members of SPCK. Displayed were the books that support Diffusion, which guests enjoyed looking through.

Half an hour later, Sam Richardson (CEO of SPCK) presented SPCK and Primavera introduced us to Diffusion and talked about the significance of the programme. At 7.45pm, Primavera presented Andy and Debbie’s conversation. Debbie spoke about a number of subjects, including her sporting career, athletes' values, illiteracy in prisons, and how valuable the Diffusion programme is.

Here's what Debbie said about illiteracy in prisons and the value of the Diffusion programme:

Illiteracy in prisons has a huge impact, both on how they [prisoners] see their value in work, and all the opportunities they will have onwards.

[Diffusion] ... it's so valuable and so important... I've seen the difference that that kind of support makes within the prison service

It's so important that we engage and help those who are in prison otherwise they will just continue to be the same...

At the end of the conversation, we opened the floor up for questions from the audience. The event finished around 10:00pm, fruitful with generous donations given to Diffusion.

We would like to thank everyone who turned up to support Diffusion and our many new donors! We would also like to thank our special guests Debbie and Andy for spreading their story about their faith and the importance of Diffusion.

Improving literacy in prisons reduces reoffending. If you would like to support our Diffusion programme please visit the Diffusion webpage >>