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The Prison Teacher
- Stories from Britain's Most Notorious Women's Prison
- Narrated by: Mim Skinner
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
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The Prison Teacher
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Summary
Darkly funny, heartbreakingly poignant and stark in its revelations about the UK's attitude towards people on the fringes of society and women in general, Jailbirds is this year's book you need to listen to.
Did you know that 48 percent of the women in prison have committed an offence in order to support the drug use of someone else? That 46 percent of women in prison report having attempted suicide once in their lifetime? Or that over half of the women in prison have been victims of more serious crimes than the ones they've been convicted of? But this isn't a book about statistics.
It's a book about the individual stories of women caught up in our creaking and under-resourced prison system. Women who commit crimes in order get a roof over their head, who star in prison pantomimes and who deal drugs with Apprentice-style entrepreneurship. It's about those who won their battles with addiction or mental health, and those that didn't. About those who will never come back to prison, and those for whom it's the only safe space they've ever known.
Headlines and news reports of prison leave us with a boiled-down narrative of goodies and baddies - violent offenders, neglectful mothers and incurable psychopaths if you read one paper, or cruel officers, the evil establishment and sexist judges if you read another. But, very rarely, just humans.
When I started working in prisons, part of me expected to find this pantomime cast of characters. Instead I met wonderful, funny, brave and resilient people with complicated stories - on both sides of the bars. Come inside with me and meet them.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
What listeners say about The Prison Teacher
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kim
- 25-06-22
Worth a listen
Eye opening and shows this country is in desperate need of a prison reform.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gammon
- 20-10-20
Fascinating and Informative
Mim provides her account of some entertaining and some extremely sobering stories from her experiences while teaching in a women's prison. Through these she provides a unique and informative insight into the inner workings of the prison and the lives of the women imprisoned there.
While this is just one person's account, she brings attention to a lot of the issues regarding the imprisonment of women and lack of rehabilitation leading to re-offending. As well as the distinct lack of provisions upon release from prison despite this leading to women living on the streets and often deliberately returning to prison for the relative safety.
Overall, this is a well written and thought provoking account with a solid narration despite a rather Welsh impression of a Somerset accent...
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Liz Carter
- 24-11-22
Very realistic
Working in prisons for many years, I found this book very realistic. Made me laugh out loud many times and also feel really sad isotherm. Excellent narration, too. Thoroughly recommend this booth if you want an insight into working in a prison as a 'civvy'
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Bagby
- 10-03-21
Honest but unbalanced
So I enjoyed some of the stories in this book however it constantly critiques prisons and paints the prisoners as sympathetic characters. That’s all well and good however the problem is that there is no balance. Yes a lot of women are in jail because of their upbringing/circumstances but a lot of women have come from the same situations and aren’t in jail. It throws stats at the reader but doesn’t look particularly deep into them. For instance it mentions that only 5% of the prison population is female but never looks at the reason why.
The biggest draw back is that the author is completely corrupt. She breaks rules constantly and is easily manipulated by the prisoners. All her stories appear honest and are enjoyable but it’s hard to get over how naive she can be.
She brings up a lot of issues with the prison system however she never offers viable solutions for these issues.
Overall it’s an enjoyable but frustrating read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- KB2013
- 17-06-19
Everyone should read this book
Thank you so much to Mim for sharing your experiences through this book. I found it eye opening, funny and heart breaking. I have learnt so much from this book and would encourage everyone to read it.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 01-11-19
Enjoyed but a little slow
I loved the concept of the book and learning about female prisons but found it a little slow in parts where I would zone out. A lot of ‘setting the scene’ information with no stories/actions. But overall enjoyed it
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hails
- 10-09-19
A topic we don’t like to think about
Mim has written a very human story on a topic we don’t like to think about it. And she has done a great job without the hero’s sounding too much like hero’s or too much like villains. I particularly enjoyed listening to her narrate the book too
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Pam
- 08-12-20
Brilliant book
This is excellent. Such an honest and thought provoking insight into prison life. Made me laugh and cry. Well worth a listen.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- AudiobookDevotee
- 11-12-20
There are better prison books but this one's OK
I quite like prison books. They offer a unique insight into that world. This book, however, seemed to offer a cursory glance. The author said her aim was to put names/personalities to prison statistics that we hear about but she fails to do that in my opinion.
The book is really a collection of short stories featuring different prisoners in different situations but as an outsider who teaches creativity classes you see snippets of a happier-clappier side of prison. There's talk of cheeseboards and grapes and people discussing how much they miss avocados as opposed to the nitty gritty that other prison books present.
The jumpy narrative means the prisoners never really form into solid characters that you can relate to. You get snippets and then they're gone. This seems to go against the stated aim of the book.
The author did, to her credit, raise my awareness about just how detrimental a lack of housing for released/paroled prisoners can be. That was a new one to me as I had often assumed they'd have used the homeless services available but I can see why they would struggle to access such services on release and that those services might not admit them.
The author is fairly Christian although it doesn't come across too strongly. You can't help but laugh when she gives a lift to a newly released prisoner to a derelict building with doors hanging open in a rough area and all she does to help her is say the lord's prayer. On the other hand, she did book an ex-prisoner into a Travelodge for a night so she did sometimes provide actual help too.
The author's narration was decent. Not great, not bad.
I would say of you are looking for prison books in the UK with an outside woman's perspective then The Prison Doctor is good. A Bit Of A Stretch is good for a man in the UK prison system's point of view. Haven't yet read any woman in the UK prison system books yet but hope to at some point.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- PAUL CHANDLER
- 10-07-19
Eye-opening insight into women in prison
This is such a powerful book, based on the experiences that Mim Skinner had whilst working in a women’s prison - getting behind the statistics to tell the stories of individual women with humour and dignity. I was moved alternately to laughter and tears. This is a book which has changed the way I think about the prison system and how it needs reform. Read it and have your own preconceptions challenged!
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5 people found this helpful