mummytowillow, you're generalising from your own experience which apparently isn't current anyway. Believe me, the prison service has suffered from funding cuts as much as anywhere else; in that situation, providing staff to take inmates to the library is way, way down the list of priorities.
Furthermore, if you are studying for a qualification, you need more than access to libraries: you need your own copy of the textbooks in question.
Look at the evidence cited in the judgment in question:
"A statement from Mr Graham Beech, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of NACRO, underlines the importance of access to books and the damaging effects of any restrictions. He said restrictions send out the wrong message. He makes the point that prison libraries do not always stock the range and quality of books which would help prisoners with their own personal development."
"Economies which have resulted in staffing levels being reduced have worsened the situation and financial restrictions are likely to mean that purchases of particular books which will be unlikely to appeal to prisoners other than the one requesting them will not be approved. A statement from the Prisoners Education Trust includes statements from prisoners who are studying for particular qualifications who needed to possess books."
'Furthermore, a book requested by a prisoner may not be available because another has borrowed it. A book may not only be one which a prisoner may want to read but may be very useful or indeed necessary as part of a rehabilitation process. If educational and approved by the relevant officer no doubt it may be possible for it to be acquired, but that cannot be assured.'