An exploratory study, building on current international literature and research, examining motivational barriers and motivational factors New Zealand prisoners experience when making choices regarding prison education programme participation. International research has posited several theories which contribute to understanding why prisoners do and do not regard education highly. This research is building on these understandings providing a unique, New Zealand prisoner insight. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 prisoners at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility in the Waikato region. Discussions showed prisoners experience several barriers preventing motivation to participate in prison education, these include, dispositional barriers, institutional barriers and situational barriers, self-stigma, fear of education, low self-esteem and self-efficacy towards learning activities. Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation factors were found to promote motivation, these included, avoiding boredom, gain a career post release and a desire to learn the content. Family/whanau proved to be a strong motivational factor for this cohort.