A/HRC/11/8 page 11 of States,18 a figure mirrored in overcrowding which has reached, by way of example, 374.5 per cent of capacity in Grenada, 330 per cent in Zambia and about 108 per cent in the United States.19 29. The reasons for imprisonment are varied and prisoner profiles complex. They generally reflect, however, backgrounds of social disadvantage and often concomitant vulnerability rather than, as popularly assumed, individual and random acts of violence. As imprisonment by its very nature increases social disadvantage and vulnerability to rights violations, steps taken by States to fulfil and protect the rights of those it detains are of immense significance. B. General barriers to education in detention 30. Public opinion, often indifferent to and ignorant of detention, can sometimes be perceived as the main barrier in fulfilling the potential of education in detention, although the main responsibility rests on the State through its public policies of education. These attitudes are fuelled by an often equally ill-informed and ill-advised media which, when reporting on cases of criminal justice, focus almost exclusively on unrepresentative individual violent events. The all too ready willingness of politicians to reflect these fears in penal policy has led to a reluctance to embed prisoners’ right to education in legislation and to develop models of education and delivery consistent with the full development of the human personality. Within this context and while recognizing that each person is unique in their learning needs and experiences, barriers to education in relevant literature are often broken down into three categories: dispositional, institutional and situational. 20 31. Dispositional barriers, internal to the learner, are closely linked to experiences prior to and during incarceration. These include the effects of a disadvantaged childhood, previous educational failure and low self-esteem, of drug and alcohol abuse, and communication, learning and mental-health disabilities. 32. Institutional and situational barriers external to the learner in detention are perhaps best detailed by the learners themselves. Their list is long, globally relevant and includes troubling examples of education interrupted or terminated on the personal whims of prison administrators and officers and by frequent lockdowns and abrupt transfers between institutions; the absence of libraries; the absence and confiscation of written and educational material generally; waiting lists of up to three years for courses; limited, and often complete absence of, access to and training in Information Technology and related skills necessary in today’s computer-driven community. Specifically linked to this is a perceived focus on education linked to prison management rather than the specific needs and rights of prisoners. 33. The Special Rapporteur also heard of staff shortages leading to cancelled or untenable mixed ability classes and even of cases of inability to sit exams in the absence of staff to 19 20 World Prison Brief, International Centre for Prison Studies, Kings College London. Scurrah, M., “Learning on the Inside in Risdon Prison”, unpublished report on file with author.