I worked in Winson Green prison, Birmingham, yesterday. Part of the Premier League Reading Stars scheme, which uses football to inspire reluctant readers to read.
There were six prisoners. All into football. Two Villa, one Blue, one Wolves, a Man U and a Liverpool. I was nervous beforehand. I always am. But once I got talking to the men, it was a pleasure. I really enjoyed their company.
What I try to do is talk about the wealth of football reading there is in the library: newspapers, magazines, fiction, biographies; and get them to talk about what they've read. We did a quiz about football reading. Hopefully - seeing as they've all been idenfified as reluctant readers - the session will have got them into reading about football. Although, some of them were already voraious readers of football books anyway: they just did't think it counted as real reading.
Later we went down to the gym - past all the cells, through a dozen steel doors - to take penalties. That's the second part of the quiz/game I do.
On the way to the gym I was talking to one guy. He looked about 25. He was talking about how he didn't want to come back into prison this time, once he'd been released in January. He had a daughter, three years old. Like I do. He took The Gruffalo and The Tiger Came to Tea out of the library. He said he was going to read them to her next time she came in to visit. She was due that weekend.
