Education company, Coracle, led by James Tweed, provides prisoners in 91 institutions with access to education via specially designed offline Chromebooks, pre-loaded with courses within a secure learning platform. Its service helps prisoners access courses from The Open University, Prisoners’ Education Trust and a range of vocational programmes. Founder, James Tweed, explains how they use Chromebooks to offer their services to prisoners.
As Britain’s prison crisis continues, one company is quietly reshaping the way inmates access education. Coracle, a Cambridge-based digital learning provider, has emerged as a key player in addressing digital exclusion within the prison system.
Founded by James Tweed, Coracle supplies secure, offline laptops to prisoners in 91 prisons across England and Wales. Its network comprises of 2,750 Chromebooks by which inmates can access its Osprey-VLE system. This contains a rich array of educational content, from chess games to Open University courses. Its content can also help users develop and demonstrate practical skills that aid future employment, for example enabling users to secure food hygiene certificates and to complete practice driving theory tests.
“Prisoners have often had a very poor experience in education,” said Tweed. “Close to 60% of British inmates were excluded from school and often believe it is simply not for them. But when they get a laptop, they love it. They often start off playing chess but then become curious about the other courses available.”
Tweed, whose company recently won a Google Social Impact Award, believes fixing this issue will have a transformative effect on society.
“All the evidence suggests that improving the educational levels of inmates cuts reoffending,” he said. “However, providing education to inmates is incredibly challenging for a variety of reasons.”
The challenge: Delivering education in prisons
Educating prisoners is the domain of the Learning and Skills teams based at the institutions. However, the nature of the prison environment often makes this task difficult. Just moving prisoners from their cell into a classroom can take a long time and takes place in a context where staff shortages are commonplace and also where disruption can occur at any moment.
“Prisons just aren’t good places to deliver education. Just getting them into the room is hard. But then, of course, you actually have to deliver the education and that’s a challenge in itself,” said Tweed.
In UK prisons, as well as in many institutions worldwide, there is a preponderance of neurodiversity and learning difficulties. Illiteracy and innumeracy are commonplace and many people enter prison with few skills.
“The sad truth is many arrive with no skills and leave without them, too. This makes reoffending all too likely,” said Tweed. “But digital offers us a way forward as it means learning can take place in the cell and at the pace the learner requires.”
However, giving prisoners laptops comes with both concerns and challenges. The Internet is banned in British prisons and in other jurisdictions due to security concerns. Previous attempts to provide prisoners with IT have led to hacking incidents. Yet Tweed says, unless we give prisoners access to the digital world, we are storing up trouble for the future.
He said: “The truth is, we live in a digital world. Most of us wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without our phones. Yet, when people are released from prison, they do so without any device or even any experience of how to operate in a digital world. Everything is online yet prisons are completely offline.”
The solution: Coracle’s approach to prison education
To overcome these issues, Tweed and his team worked with Google to choose the Chrome operating system which stood out as the best system on which to run its Osprey VLE platform.
“The nature of Chrome OS means it’s great for us. It’s virus free and very secure, which provides a lot of assurance to our government-based clients,” said Tweed.
“No one has ever been able to hack our devices and make them go online. You can only use them for the purposes for which they are intended.”
With a robust system in place, prisoners can be entrusted with a device they can use in their cells unsupervised.
Tweed said: “Our service means we can track what a prisoner has been learning. We can also act as a bridge between the learner and the education provider. We pass over their coursework and update the devices.
“I don’t think we are replacing classroom learning, but we are reducing the reliance we have on it. It means inmates can learn independently, in their own time and space.”
The results: Impact and potential
While the programme is still in its growth phase – with 2,750 devices deployed – its scalability presents a powerful opportunity. Expanding access to Coracle laptops across the prison estate could deliver substantial cost savings by reducing reoffending while also addressing the deeper social challenges posed by digital exclusion.
The results of Coracle’s work are promising, with evidence pointing to a significant demand for education among prisoners.
Recent research conducted by Nottingham Trent University highlighted the enthusiasm of inmates to learn using Coracle laptops, with many citing the devices as a valuable tool for personal growth. Positive feedback from education teams further underscores the programme’s effectiveness in engaging learners who might otherwise remain excluded.
Case studies such as HMP Stocken illustrate how Coracle’s model can transform prison education. At Stocken, the 85 Chromebooks in use have allowed inmates to pursue qualifications ranging from functional skills to industry-recognised certifications. For many prisoners, these opportunities mark their first meaningful engagement with education, offering a pathway to employment and stability.
The broader societal benefits are equally compelling. Decades of research confirm that education reduces reoffending, with higher levels of qualification linked to lower rates of return to custody. Inmates who achieve university level qualifications, for instance, are far less likely to reoffend. By providing the tools and opportunities for learning, Coracle contributes to breaking the cycle of reoffending, which costs the UK over £18 billion annually.
Beyond individual outcomes, the programme has garnered recognition for its innovative approach. Winning the Google Social Impact Award in 2024 was a testament to the company’s impact in driving social change. Google praised Coracle for giving a voice to marginalised groups and improving lives across society. This award built on the King’s Award for Enterprise for Promoting Opportunity that the company won in 2023.
Conclusion: A vision for the future
Coracle’s work demonstrates how technology, when carefully adapted, can transform even the most challenging of educational environments. By equipping prisoners with the tools to learn, develop skills and rebuild their futures, Coracle is not only addressing digital exclusion but also reshaping the role of education in rehabilitation.
The prison system faces significant challenges, but Coracle offers a vision of what is possible.
“Technology can and should be a force for good,” added Tweed. “With the right investment and support, Coracle’s model could become a cornerstone of prison education reform, creating opportunities for inmates and, in turn, a safer and more inclusive society.”