Effectiveness of peer learning and peer support in prison: A realist-inspired review of outcomes, mechanisms, and contextual factors

Within prisons and in recent research surrounding them, more and more attention is being paid to opportunities for active citizenship by incarcerated people. This implies that there is a greater recognition of the ability of incarcerated people to participate in and contribute to everyday life while in prison. For many incarcerated people, education is a critical gateway to opportunity. While many educators in prison dedicate themselves to working with incarcerated people who need support and want to learn, they are not able to provide the full range of help needed.
To be able to provide more support and increased learning opportunities, peer learning and peer support programs have been introduced in several prisons globally. In these programs, incarcerated people are trained to educate, tutor, or otherwise support their fellow incarcerated persons. Such programs are often strong informal learning practices that provide learning opportunities for both peer workers and peer recipients. This kind of mutually beneficial interaction provides further evidence that justice systems acknowledge that prisons should offer incarcerated people opportunities to achieve some form of meaning and purpose during their incarceration