Inmates in three London prisons are learning the dead language (Picture: Shutterstock)

Criminals will be lending their ears to the likes of Julius Caesar as they learn Latin to boost their vocabulary and reading.

Most of our Latin knowledge doesn’t go beyond ‘Romanes eunt domus’ (meaning Romans go home) thanks to Monty Python’s Holy Grail.

But inmates at three London prisons, including those serving life sentences, are being taught the dead language along with Greek as part of a new trial, reports Mail Online.

Children improved their reading age by an average of 18 months after the programme was rolled out across a number of schools.

And if successful, it will be launched in more prisons in the UK.

Many English words derive from the two ancient languages.

And those with low reading abilities can learn by breaking down words to their Latin and Greek components.

For instance, prisoners learned that ‘de-escalation’ means ‘the reduction of the intensity of a conflict’ and may be linked to the Latin word ‘scandere’, to climb.

The technique is called Sound Training and was developed by former teacher, Katy Parkinson.

Researcher Ellie Mulcahy, from the think-tank LKMco, who measured the effectiveness of the system, said offenders enjoyed the intellectual challenge.

‘They were even making up their own words and being able to say what that hypothetical word would mean, using their knowledge of Latin,’ she added.

Metro.co.uk approached Ministry of Justice for comment.