A scheme that lets men at HMP Full Sutton study with Leeds Beckett University (LBU) has won a national award. It received the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Education.
Under the Leeds Beckett Educational Alliance with HMP Full Sutton (LEAF), university students go into the high-security prison. There, they join prisoners in classroom sessions to study Criminology.
The King and Queen presented the prize at an investiture ceremony at St James’s Palace in London. The award forms part of the UK honours system. Two academics from LBU’s School of Humanities and Social Science, Dr Bill Davies and Dr Alexandria Bradley, received it.
Former student Rachel Greene also attended. Dr Davies and Dr Bradley taught her during a degree in Criminology with Psychology and a later Master’s in Criminology. She said she had gone to Full Sutton every other Tuesday and loved it. For her, the mixing of the two groups of students mattered most.
She said: “As soon as we entered the classroom, we were all equal. We were there for the same purpose. We supported each other. I found it so special”. After the course ended, she returned as a peer mentor at the scheme’s invitation.
LEAF grew out of a collaboration with Cambridge University’s Learning Together scheme. That scheme closed after a terrorist attack in November 2019 at its anniversary event at Fishmongers’ Hall, on London Bridge.
According to LBU, the scheme provides inclusive higher education in the prison. It offers a supportive learning environment and trauma-informed teaching. This helps learners who may have had their schooling disrupted to earn recognised qualifications through focused study.
Dr Davies co-directs LEAF. He said: “We are incredibly proud to receive the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Education, which recognises the dedication and collaboration at the heart of the LEAF partnership”.
LBU’s Chancellor, Sir Bob Murray, and its Vice Chancellor, Professor Peter Slee, also attended the ceremony.
Full Sutton is a high-security men’s prison in Yorkshire and the Humber. At its last full inspection, in July 2024, inspectors rated purposeful activity as not sufficiently good. They judged safety, respect and preparation for release reasonably good.
