A Thorough Examination

LAST minute revision, writing notes on the back of your arm, sitting up late at night wanking over the girls in your class when you should be studying – yes it’s that time of year again when nervous tykes up and down Ireland take their Leaving or Junior Certificate exams.
And one study group in particular will have less distractions than most this year, with a whopping 50 percent increase in the number of prisoners taking their Leaving Cert exams.
In total, 117 will take the exams, with a further 161 prisoners sitting Junior Cert papers and an estimated 600 taking part in the FETAC (Further Education Training and Awards Council) courses.
An Irish Prison Service (IPS) spokesman said: “The aim of educationalists in working with each individual prisoner is to create and establish an appetite for learning which will facilitate their rehabilitation while in prison and also facilitate their re-entry into the family unit and society.
“Pre-release courses are an important part of the rehabilitative process within prisons and the education team are centrally involved in the division and delivery of such programmes to the prison population.”
Now call us cynical, but in a country where you’re more likely to see a leprechaun than a job at the moment, what are the chances of a former criminal staying on the straight and narrow…