Education as Transformation: Ras Al Khaimah’s Prison Learning Initiative Shapes Regional Practice

A significant policy dialogue in Ras Al Khaimah has brought together international experts to examine how education within correctional settings can reshape lives and strengthen communities across the Arab region and beyond.

In the quiet spaces between confinement and possibility, education becomes something more than instruction. It becomes a doorway to dignity, to possibility, to the self one might yet become. This conviction has guided the Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research through more than a decade of work within the Ras Al Khaimah Correctional Facility, and it animated a two-day international policy dialogue held in early November, bringing together 25 regional and international stakeholders to examine prison education across the Arab world.

The conversation, organised with the technical cooperation of UNESCO and its Institute for Lifelong Learning, moved beyond rhetoric to examine how education genuinely transforms rehabilitation and reintegration. The partnership between the Foundation and Ras Al Khaimah’s correctional facility has evolved from the establishment of a prison library into something far more ambitious: a comprehensive educational programme delivering over 150 courses to more than 5,000 inmates since 2011. The library itself now houses 9,000 titles and was recognised by UNESCO for best practice in 2026, a quiet affirmation that reading and learning matter, profoundly, even in spaces designed for confinement.

Dr. Natasha Ridge, Executive Director of the Al Qasimi Foundation, addressed the dialogue with clarity of vision: “Education is at the heart of everything we do. We believe in its power to transform lives, create opportunities, and build stronger, more inclusive communities.” This is not aspirational language but demonstrated reality. The Foundation’s work reflects a deeper understanding that the right to learn connects to wider human rights principles, and that personal development within correctional settings creates genuine pathways to successful reintegration into society.

The programme itself examined institutional approaches to quality prison education across the Middle East and North Africa, with particular attention to gender considerations and alternative learning pathways. A keynote address from Dr. Baz Dreisinger of John Jay College of Criminal Justice explored the philosophy of education over incarceration as global practice. A workshop facilitated by Miguel Rivera Donoso, Coordinator of the Prison Libraries Plan at Chile’s National System of Public Libraries, explored how libraries within correctional settings can evolve into inclusive learning spaces that support personal development. “A prison library is much more than a place where people can find books to pass the time,” Rivera Donoso reflected. “In a context of confinement, an active library can become a key that opens doors within, connecting people, or reconnecting them, with hidden parts of themselves.”

The second day turned to translation of policy into practice, with government representatives and institutional leaders examining how public institutions across Ras Al Khaimah and the wider UAE can strengthen prison education and rehabilitation frameworks. This represents, in essence, the Foundation’s core commitment: bridging research and institutional partnerships to create meaning and lasting community impact.

What it means for Abu Dhabi

The dialogue reflects a broader commitment across the Emirates to education as the foundation of human development and social progress. As the Al Qasimi Foundation has demonstrated through its partnership with Ras Al Khaimah’s correctional facility, educational opportunity extends beyond traditional classrooms and reaches those whom society has placed beyond its immediate view. The recognition of the prison library as best practice by UNESCO signals international validation of an approach grounded in the principle that every person deserves the opportunity to develop their potential.

This work also strengthens the UAE’s regional leadership in policy innovation and human development. By hosting international expertise and examining approaches to prison education across the MENA region, Ras Al Khaimah positions itself as a centre for evidence-informed practice and institutional collaboration. The dialogue’s focus on strengthening policy and institutional frameworks for correctional education creates models that can influence approaches across the Gulf Cooperation Council and the wider Arab world, advancing the Emirates’ commitment to building inclusive, progressive societies grounded in human dignity and opportunity.

Source: WAM