One of the growing problems in European society is the question of how to reduce the costs of crime and the costs of ‘fear of crime’. Research shows that a significant number of offenders suffer mental health problems, problems of low self-esteem (such as those associated with drug abuse), as well as lacking even basic literacy skills in many cases. Against this background, BREAKOUT is an innovative learning initiative aimed at addressing three key problems: 1) how to alert people ‘at risk’ of anti-social and offending behaviour to the possible consequences of their actions; 2) how to improve learning for people in prisons, on parole and in therapeutic units, and 3) how to reduce levels of re-offending and anti-social behaviour through learning. It helps ‘at risk’ groups and offenders, particularly young offenders and offending drug users, to ‘break out’ of a vicious circle of bad experiences and low expectations of education, and hence limited life chance opportunities.