Prison Education in Botswana Through the Eyes of Ex-Inmates

This chapter reports on a study completed in 2014. The study sought to find out the nature of education that the Botswana Prison Service dispenses and the utilitarian nature of the said education as regards the reintegration of ex-inmates back into society. The conduct of the study was guided by three research questions and Mezirow's (1997) transformative learning was used as theoretical framework. A qualitative design with a phenomenological paradigm was employed in the conduct of the study and twenty-two (22) ex-inmates of Botswana prisons participated in the study. It was found out that while ex-inmates valued the kindness of their facilitators and rated highly the education they received in prison, they were frustrated by the fact that neither government establishments nor the private sector were ready to employ them upon discharge. It was recommended that a more humane space should be created for the reintegration of ex-inmates who return into society.