Degree of Freedom - Prison Education at the Open University: Book Review.

Degrees of Freedom is an engaging, accessible book that celebrates the first 50 years ofprison education at the Open University (OU). One of its strengths lies in the way itrelates experiences of prison education from the perspectives of the learners and stafffacilitators involved. The OU has been delivering higher education (HE) in prisons since1971. This book is the first to document and analyse the experience of prisoners whoselives have been transformed by these efforts, gathering contributions from people whohave served prison sentences in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Degreesof Freedom highlights the diversity of the prison education experience, interspersing 14 chapters with nine shorter ‘vignettes’. While the book is unashamedly in favour of prisoneducation and its benefits, it does address the many challenges and limitations of edu-cation in an environment of incarceration. These range from the practical (the hugelyfrustrating loss of student work and records on transferring prisons), to the financial (the restrictions since 2012 on student loan availability), to the emotional and personal.