Offline digital learning can play a vital role in prisons by providing inmates with educational opportunities and empowering them with the knowledge and skills that they can positively bring forward upon their release.
James Tweed, CEO of Coracle Online, spoke to Business News Wales about his personal journey and how the business came into fruition, how his speciality of offline digital learning developed, why he began to understand the challenges faced within prisons, the importance of preparing individuals for life after prison through offline digital learning, how Welsh prisons are being particularly innovative and his delight of Coracle Online being one of the first recipients for the Innovate UK Innovation Award.
About Coracle Online
James is the CEO of Cambridge-based digital learning company Coracle, which provides inmates at 86 prisons in England and Wales with access to education in their cells.
The company ethos is to provide proactive, innovative value-added services to its clients and has a reputation for integrity, high-quality service and developing long term relationships. They currently support an active user base of over 25,000 individuals, distributed across nearly 70 countries.
In April this year, Coracle won a Kings’ Award for promoting opportunity. It is one of the few companies permitted by the Ministry of Justice and HM Prisons and Probation Service to provide prisoners with laptops for education.
Coracle is on a mission to tackle the digital skills gap. Its tech platform means prisoners can safely access content from organisations such as The Open University, Prisoner’s Education Trust, Shannon Trust and Aim Awards, without using the internet.