In the shadows of organized crime, where social systems are often weakened and individuals marginalized, education can serve as a powerful tool of resistance, resilience, and rehabilitation. The Working Group 9 (WG9) on Education and Social Action to Implement Forms of Bottom-up Counter Actions Against Organised Crime, mentored by Timothy D. Ireland (IACEHOF 2024), convened at the 2024 Hall of Fame Induction Conference in Florence to explore the critical intersections between adult education, social justice, and criminal justice reform.
Participants from Italy, Greece, South Africa, the United States, Brazil, and the Nordic countries contributed diverse insights. The group focused on two central areas:
1. Educational responses to organized crime
2. The transformative potential of education within the prison system
Session One: Learning as Resistance – Confronting Organized Crime Through Education
In the first session, participants exchanged experiences and strategies on how education can disrupt the influence of organized crime, especially in communities where it has deeply entrenched roots. Italy's long-standing battle with mafia structures provided a particularly vivid context, demonstrating the risks and the power of civic education to raise awareness and mobilize communities.
Key topics included:
- The role of education in promoting civic consciousness and ethical leadership.
- Community-based learning initiatives that challenge the normalization of criminal networks.
- Equipping vulnerable populations with critical thinking and media literacy to resist propaganda and coercion.
Education in this sense is not neutral—it is a form of action, offering individuals and communities the means to analyze, question, and reclaim agency.
Session Two: Rethinking the Prison as a Learning Space
The second session focused on formal and non-formal educational practices in correctional settings. Participants discussed how prisons, often isolated from the broader education system, can become sites of learning, dignity, and transformation.
Central themes included:
- Learning Needs of Incarcerated Individuals:
- Differences in educational needs across gender, age, and socio-economic background.
- Tailoring programs to meet the practical and psychological realities of confinement.
- Education for Survival and Reintegration:
- Beyond traditional literacy and vocational training, incarcerated learners require life skills, emotional literacy, and digital access to navigate life during and after imprisonment.
- Training for Prison Staff and Educators:
- Equipping correctional officers, counselors, and educators with the tools to support learning environments grounded in respect and rehabilitation.
- The Role of Technology:
- Exploring how Information Technology (IT) and virtual learning environments can expand access while navigating institutional constraints and security concerns.
Collective Action and Future Collaboration
The working group did not stop at analysis—it laid the groundwork for practical collaboration across regions and disciplines. Participants discussed the need for:
- A Knowledge Repository: A shared Google Drive was proposed to house articles, program examples, evaluation tools, and concept notes related to prison and anti-crime education.
- Webinars and Cross-National Learning Events: The group will host virtual events to continue knowledge exchange and build global solidarity.
- Ethnographic Research in Prisons: Encouraging small, collaborative research teams to investigate lived experiences in carceral spaces and the effects of different educational approaches.
- Joint Training Curricula: Developing content for training prison educators, officers, and volunteers working within justice-impacted communities.
- Legal Framework Analysis: Studying and comparing national and international legal norms governing prison education and criminal justice reform.
Toward “Learning Prisons” – A Vision for Transformation
One of the group’s most compelling ideas was to complement the global “learning cities” movement with a vision for “learning prisons.” These institutions would prioritize education as a cornerstone of rehabilitation and human development, not merely as an activity, but as a core identity.
The group hopes to inspire systemic change by elevating the role of learning in prison policy, management, and culture. Learning prisons could model restorative justice principles, reduce recidivism, and promote lifelong learning for some of society’s most marginalized individuals.
Education as Counterpower
WG9 demonstrated that education is one of the most potent nonviolent tools for challenging injustice, rebuilding broken lives, and reclaiming democratic space in the face of organized crime and incarceration. Through transnational partnerships, shared resources, and a commitment to inclusion and dignity, this working group envisions a future where learning is not denied behind bars but cultivated as a right, a strategy, and a form of liberation.
