Media Literacy in closed environments: prisons, detention, and restricted information spaces

Media literacy is often discussed in the context of open access to information and free participation in digital environments. But what happens when access to information is restricted (or limited), curated (or controlled), mediated (or surveilled), or closely monitored? Across Europe, prisons and other secure settings are increasingly adopting digital education systems and technologies as part of broader efforts to support rehabilitation, reintegration, and digital inclusion. At the same time, these environments raise important questions about information access, digital rights, critical thinking, and the balance between security and empowerment.

This session explored what media literacy means in closed and controlled information environments. Participants examined the digitalisation of prison education across Europe, the challenges of preparing people in custody for life in an increasingly digital society, and the role of media literacy in supporting successful reintegration. The webinar also tackled how restricted digital environments influence access to information, resilience to misinformation and radicalisation, and the ethical tensions between surveillance, security, and individual agency. Through expert presentations and practical examples, attendees had the opportunity to gain insights into how media literacy can contribute to more inclusive, resilient, and rights-based approaches to education and rehabilitation in secure settings.

Target group: Media literacy educators, prison educators, researchers, correctional services professionals, policymakers, digital inclusion practitioners, civil society organisations, journalists, human rights advocates, youth and adult education professionals, and anyone interested in the role of media literacy in restricted or closed information environments.

Speakers:

• Sofia Almeida, Researcher & Consultant, IPS_Innovative Prison Systems, Portugal.

• Bianca Reisdorf, Professor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, United States.

• Max ter Beek, Project Coordinator, Click F1, The Netherlands.

• Maria José Brites , Associate Professor at Lusófona University, and  Teresa Sofia Castro , Assistant Professor at Lusófona University, Portugal.

Moderator: Chloé Pété, Project Officer (Digital and Media Literacy), Media & Learning Association.

Recording

Open embedded media

Links

IPS: https://prisonsystems.eu/

Triangle Project: https://prisonsystems.eu/projects/triangle/

UNICRI ‘Digital Rehabilitation in Prisons’: https://unicri.org/Publication-Digital-Rehabilitation-Prisons

E.J. Helsper’s paper “Corresponding fields model for the links between social and digital exclusion”: https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/45013/1/__libfile_REPOSITORY_Content_Helsper,%20E_Corresponding%20fields%20model_Helsper_Corresponding_fields_model_2013.pdf

Digital Rehabilitation: A Model of Reentry into the Digital Age (Reisdorf & Rikard, 2018): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324952236_Digital_Rehabilitation_A_Model_of_Reentry_Into_the_Digital_Age

Locked up and left out: Formerly incarcerated people in the context of digital inclusion (Reisdorf & DeCook, 2022): https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14614448211063178

A brave new world: The problems and opportunities presented by new media technologies in prisons (Jewkes & Reisdorf, 2016): https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1748895816654953

Click F1: https://clickf1.nl/

MediaWise & Click F1: https://www.defenceforchildren.nl/wat-doen-we/projecten/mediawise/

Click F1’s DigiPad: https://www.sidn.nl/en/news-and-blogs/digipad-digital-literacy-initiative-for-vulnerable-young-people

Click F1’s Room with a View: https://clickf1.nl/room-with-a-view/

DiCi-Educa: https://melcilab.cicant.ulusofona.pt/projetos/dici-educa/

Maria & Teresa’s book <Digital citizenship, literacies and contexts of inequalities>: https://cicant.ulusofona.pt/publications/books/105-artigo-c

Digital rights in digital exclusion settings: the experiences of institutionalised youth in Portuguese detention centres (Brites & Castro, 2022): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17482798.2022.2145324