LECTURERS from Manchester are playing a key role in educating prisoners in Russian jails.

A team from City College - which is the largest provider of education in British prisons - has been working alongside prison officers in Russia.

And their ground-breaking work has earned them a prestige Lecturers Award for International Vocational Educational Training from British Training International.

''We are all pretty pleased about the award,'' said Chris Frost, director of prison education for City College. ''It has demonstrated just how worthwhile it has been.''

Staff from City College first teamed up with the North Western Polytechnical Institute of St Petersburg four years ago. Since then, they have worked to develop education and training for prisoners and staff in Russian prisons, which are among the largest in the world.

In the past, inmates in Russian jails were given no training and on their release they frequently drifted back into crime.

Staff from City College have helped develop training packages, which teach skills including the basics of business.

Mr Frost said: ''One of the things we did was to introduce small business concepts among prisoners, many of whom had been imprisoned in communist times and had no idea about even concepts of buying, selling and making profit. We tested it out in prisons and had quite a large number of prisoners who wanted to become involved.''

Mr Frost says the training in Russia challenged the concept of prisoners as the enemy.

''There was a very different attitude about what prisons were for,'' he said.

Now the college is looking to develop its work in Russia with a project that looks at the rehabilitative needs of prisoners following their release.

The project, which has just been given the go-ahead by the government's Department for International Development, will be centred on Kresty Prison, which holds over 10,000 inmates and is one of the largest jails on earth.