Providing higher education to offenders in custody has become an increasingly complex business in the age of digital learning. Most Australian prisoners still have no direct access to the internet and relatively unreliable access to information technology. As incarceration is now a business, prisons, like universities, are increasingly subject to economistic pressures and priorities. Historically Britain's penal colony, (post)modern Australia is following the United States toward a post-Welfare Penal state. Without specialised support and materials, incarcerated students may pay the price of converging neoliberal reforms. This paper aims to raise awareness among Australian academics of the challenges faced by incarcerated students in changing socio-political and economic climates.