Philosophy helps people to sharpen their minds for the better.

The Crito Project proceeds from two key beliefs: 

1) That education is the most cost-effective and successful mode of reform available to our society.

2) That universities have a civic duty to seek out students in unconventional settings, especially those whose lives stand at critical junctures, and who can benefit the most from higher education.

Since 2013 the Crito Project has worked in partnership with the University of East Anglia to deliver philosophy classes for incarcerated students across five different UK prisons. In that time we have taught over 700 hours of face-to-face philosophy classes, delivered at the same kind of level that our students on campus can expect. The nature of consciousness, the fundaments of a meaningful life and the rules of logic & argument are all fields that can transform someone’s understanding of themself and the universe around them, leading to a new kind of coherent, reflective life. These are subjects that can revolutionise our views on the world and our place within it.

Higher education in prison should not be seen solely through the lens of recidivism. The Crito Project's mission is to bring lasting and positive reform to the opportunities to be found in our prisons. We want to provide a first-class education to incarcerated students, as a means to achieving the only type of reform that is real and lasting, and common to every student in the world: reform on the level of an individual's concepts, self-esteem and life opportunities.

Freedom of thought, close reading and the development of our students’ own unique responses: these have been our guiding vision. But until very recently, we haven’t been able to offer tangible, real-world rewards for our students’ hard work. Now, in a ground-breaking parternship with the UEA, the Crito Project is planning to deliver an accredited series of three modules, closely mirroring three from the UEA’s Philosophy Department’s first-year curriculum, at HMP Wayland. Together the UEA and the Crito Project are pushing new national boundaries in making a sustained programme of accredited higher education available to incarcerated students.