Autonomy and exclusion among Danish prisoners in education

A prison sentence necessarily means that the person receiving the sentence is in essential ways excluded from the surrounding society. This exclusion means fewer choices and, in the long run, this may affect the person’s ability to actively make choices – therefore, autonomy is an important theme in relation to exclusion. In Denmark, there is a political desire to increase the level of education among prison inmates, because this is regarded as a way out of crime. But taking an education while in prison can, for various reasons, be difficult and it very much requires the ability to actively make choices as well as a high degree of autonomy on the part of the individual inmate. This article focuses on the interplay between exclusion and autonomy in relation to Danish prison inmates who are in education. Alongside this, a more general insight into the educational life of Danish prisoners will be provided.