A world-first trial of a parenting program has been run in Tasmania's Mary Hutchinson Women's Prison. The charity behind it says that if convicted criminals stay connected with their families they are less likely to re-offend. It can be hard enough learning to read and write, imagine having to do it in jail. About a third of Australia's prisoners have not completed Year 10. This has inspired a speech pathologist in Tasmania to go into jails to help improve literacy levels and get prisoners into jobs.

Meet Matt, a courageous single father who has turned his life around to build a better life for his kids. Crucial to Matt's journey was the opportunity to strengthen his reading and writing skills.

My role as Director of Prisons places in me in a unique position with regard to access and engagement with a broad range of people across Tasmania and mainland Australia, exposing me to many languages, cultures, perceptions, and opportunities. Approaching the symposium Communicating: The Heart of Literacy from this positon was intriguing, but also done with a degree of apprehension. The other participants, their own unique life experiences, and what they brought to the event, made it inspirational, transformational, and, for me personally, very thought provoking.