This report presents the findings from the first joint Nordic survey of prisoners in the Nordic countries with a focus on educational backgrounds, participation in prison educational activities, and motivation to become involved in education. Between six and eleven per cent of the prisoners had not completed any educational level, and between one fourth and half had only completed compulsory schooling. Two out of every three prisoners were not participating in any form of prison educational activity. Between one and three percent of the prisoners were studying at university or higher education level. An average of between every third and fourth prisoner stated that they had reading and writing problems. However, there was no correlation between self-rated problems and participation in educational activities. In contrast, there was something of a consensus among the prisoners that if one was serving a short sentence, it was not worthwhile to become involved in educational activity.