This study investigated whether ‘Get Into Reading’, a literature-based intervention, which had been established in other custodial contexts and non-custodial mental health settings in the UK transposed to a female prison; HMP Low Newton, and whether any of the benefits identified in custodial and non-custodial contexts elsewhere were reported by women at Low Newton. The study was conducted through a partnership between researchers from the Centre for Research into Reading, Information and Linguistic Systems at the University of Liverpool, HMP Low Newton, Durham, and The Reader Organisation, a nationally recognised charity which promotes shared reading as a practical way to improve wellbeing, foster social inclusion and extend reading pleasure. The project was funded by the National Personality Disorder Team.

"Shared reading aloud resulted in a form of ‘disciplined relaxation’. Participating women described the reading experience as a 'bubble’ – an atmosphere of com­plete mutual absorption and concentration, offering protection both from the distraction of the environment or personal anxiety, and from self-consciousness. Participating women regarded the activity as a form of self-expression unique to the prison, and that regard was verified by the voluntariness of the women’s attendance, (‘getting something out of it without wanting something from it’ as a member of the prison staff put it). This is something participants ‘do for themselves’. Participants also reported that anticipation of the reading group was an important point of reference – keeping them going during long periods of lock-up, or offering a life-line when they were coping with too much time on their hands."