The acute shortage of skilled IT workers in the UK has created an opportunity for the inmates of London’s largest prison, HMP Wandsworth to acquire IT skills. The Wandsworth prison has the reputation for offering training to its inmates in various fields like industrial cleaning, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, tailoring and painting. It also trains prisoners in subjects like English, Maths, creative writing and social activities.

The latest addition to its laudable contribution in the lives of prisoners, who want to leave their past behind and turn a new leaf, is the training in data cabling and network installation relevant for the IT industry. HMP Wandsworth’s newest vocational academy launched on June 11 by the Minister for Prison, David Hanson and the Minister for Skills, David Lammy, will organise the training to boost the chances of employment for the prisoners in the technology sector.

The academy is an outcome of public-private participation. It aims at developing hidden capabilities of those condemned to imprisonment. The HM Prison Service (HMPS) and construction company Bovis Lend Lease, networking giant Cisco and network cable company Panduit are the brains behind the academy.