Histories and Philosophies of Carceral Education

Book excerpt: This edited collection encourages philosophical exploration of the nature, aims, contradictions, promises and problems of the practice of education within prisons around the world. Such exploration is particularly necessary given the complex operational barriers to education, and higher education in particular, within prison-based teaching and learning. These operational barriers are matched by cultural and polemical barriers, such as the criticism of diverting resources to and spending money on prisoner education when the cost of some education seems prohibitive for people outside prison. More so than in other education contexts, prison education may fall short of higher ideals because it is shot through with both practical and moral-political problems and challenges, especially in the age of global late capitalism, high technology and mass incarceration or securitization. This book includes insights and issues around a wide range of areas including: ethics, religion, sociology, justice, identity and political and moral philosophy.