Description

Experiences of A Teacher in a Male Prison
By Krysia Martin

ISBN: 9781849913706
Published: 2010
Pages: 180
Key Themes: fiction, prison, authority

Description

We see the high walls, and the barred windows, the pictures of the long landings and wings. We see prison officers going into the building and visitors arriving to see their loved ones, but what is it really like inside a prison. What goes on in there.

The stories in this book are about the everyday life of a female prison teacher in a male environment. They tell of lessons that have made a difference, of lessons that have been unsuccessful, of laughter and tears both from the students and the teachers. They tell of the different values held by the teachers and their students, of the loneliness, despair, violence and fear. Each story takes a different lesson or event, and relates what happened. Kate, the teacher is passionate about changing the prisoners outlook, and helping them to become law-abiding citizens, but this is not always what her lessons achieve. By the end of the book, the reader will have experienced with Kate the frustrations, the joys, the tragedies and the triumphs within a huge, local, male prison.

About the Author

Krysia Martin was born in 1948 and lived in a Polish Resettlement Camp for the first ten years of her life. Her parents who had been deported from Poland to Siberia and so came to Britain with nothing, insisted that she used Education to move out of poverty. She trained to be a teacher in a Primary School. However, when she started work, and bought a car, she needed extra cash to pay for it. So she began teaching in a prison in the evenings. After her children were born, she left the school and moved to work in the prison part time. When her children were old enough, and she looked for permanent work outside, she realised that the education in the Primary Sector had changed and she was most qualified to work in a prison, teaching adults. It was with her strong belief that education was the key to increasing self confidence, and gaining control over life, poverty and helplessness that she undertook her work. Eventually, she stayed in the prison for thirty seven years.