Honorary degree for TV channel founder offering prisoners in-cell access to training and education

Jezz Wright, founder and Channel Director of Wayout TV - a range of in-cell channels that aim to help prisoners with their rehabilitation, has been awarded an Honorary Degree by UWE Bristol.

Jezz, who lives in Norwich, received his Honorary Master of Education on Monday 22 July in recognition of his commitment to widening participation in education among marginalised groups in society.

He's one of nine individuals to be awarded Honorary Degrees during UWE Bristol's summer graduation ceremonies, which are being held for the first time at Bristol Beacon, from 15 - 25 July.

Jezz devised in-cell channels in 2014 after identifying a strong need to provide those prisoners who weren't engaging with traditional learning with innovative and engaging educational content through their in-cell TV.

One of these channels, Way2Learn TV, offers a range of introductory courses that are designed to inspire and instil confidence in this particularly hard-to-reach cohort. This enables prisoners to think critically about their life choices, employability options and therefore guide their future learning journey.

Wayout TV and Way2Learn are the first and only national networked TV channels for prisoners anywhere in the world, and now serve over seventy UK establishments.

During his time as Director of Content and Digital Strategy for education provider PeoplePlus, Jezz developed many strategic partnerships for prison learners, cumulating in UWE Bristol recognising all Way2Learn courses as qualitative learning activities.

As a result of the partnership with UWE Bristol, Way2Learn is now certifying over 2500 courses annually for prisoners across the UK.

Jezz said: "I founded Wayout TV 10 years ago with a view to improving the employability options and life chances of prisoners through the power of video learning. It's a trusted channel for all prison staff and stakeholders to communicate with prisoners directly about the numerous education, employment and activities that are on offer. Our programming is essential brain-food for prisoners hungry to understand how they might turn their lives around whilst serving their sentence.

"When we launched, we needed a partner who could not only endorse the integrity of our educational content but give prisoners the opportunity to walk away from an alternative learning experience with a great sense of pride. I cannot impress upon you how much it means for prisoners to receive a certificate of learning with UWE Bristol's name on it. Last year 2000 prisoners received their certificates upon completion of learning.

"This award isn't just for me, but for my justice colleagues and all prison educators who strive to ignite that spark of learning. Together, we can ensure that the transformative power of education reaches everyone, from prison cells to prestigious universities."

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.