Force prisoners to study (9)
I believe the answer is:
constrain
'force' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'prisoners to study' is the wordplay.
'prisoners' becomes 'cons'.
'to study' becomes 'train' (training is a kind of studying).
'cons'+'train'='CONSTRAIN'
(Other definitions for constrain that I've seen before include "Hold back - non-racist (anag)" , "Lock up" , "Confine, limit" , "Compel; constrict" , "Severely restrict" .)