The Arts and Prisoners: Experiences of Creative Rehabilitation

Abstract

The following article presents findings from an ongoing evaluation of arts programmes from Artlink Central taking place in Cornton Vale, which is Scotland's main prison for women. Through a discussion of the findings, and a look to international research on this area, the arts can clearly generate significant rehabilitative benefits for offenders. However, such work has both real and perceived limitations. Ultimately the arts, like other rehabilitative efforts, can be regarded as an 'add on' and, therefore, do not receive the credit or place they deserve in policy and consequently in practice. a wide range of marginalised and special needs groups to work with experienced professional artists on highquality art projects in the Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire areas of Central Scotland. 1 They have delivered art workshops in prisons in Scotland for the past 14 years and, therefore, have extensive experience in working within the prison environment. The evaluation highlighted the rehabilitative effects that the arts can have within a prison setting as well as the barriers (both real and perceived) to the use of arts with prisoners. At present the arts are not part of the core programme for prisoners. Female Offenders in ScotlandPrisoner numbers continue to increase in Scotland. On 1 April 2007 the prison population stood at 7,238, but by May 2010 had increased to over 8,000. 2 The number of women going to prison, in particular, has risen at an alarming rate. Over the ten-year period from 1998/99 to 2007/08, the average daily prison population (men and women) increased by 22%. In the same ten-year period, the female prison population increased by 87% -over four times the growth experienced in the male prison population

Arts groups as community-based criminal justice interventions

“…The regularity of the group encourages women to build on relationships as they are able to see the same people week after week. These social interactions can grow to provide meaningful social support (Nugent and Loucks, 2011), but from my experience of the group, I think that this is uncommon, with low-level social benefits being much more prevalent. Certainly none of the attendees voiced an expectation for the arts group to provide them with friends (perhaps because of a disinclination to intentionally become friendly with those who may be more caught up in offending than themselves, or maybe a reluctance to voice the desire for new friends).…”

“…This engagement can also work through building self-confidence in participants, or by introducing women to other service users with whom they feel comfortable and can share an interest. It certainly seems that the use of arts sessions in encouraging engagement is recognised elsewhere within criminal justice (Miles and Clarke, 2006), and that it can prove useful in transitioning participants to more intensive courses, such as education, through improving self-confidence (Nugent and Loucks, 2011). At TWP, the arts group also provides an ideal location for new volunteers, or those transitioning from service user to volunteer, to become accustomed to having responsibility within the centre and improve their confidence.…”

The Challenge of Redefining the Imprisoned Self as an Artist: The Pedagogical Rituals of a Prison Arts Instructor

“…Moreover, arts programmes help prisoners engage in healthy rituals to negotiate successfully their time in prison (Nugent and Loucks ; see also Ricciardelli and Memarpour ). The case of Larry, imprisoned for 30 years, offers a compelling example.…”

“…The antisocial and violent aspects of prison life – along with inadequate treatment programmes, substance abuse, misdiagnoses, educational limitations, and troubled life histories of inmates – further undermine the efficacy of potential interventions. Yet even with these many factors working against the successful implementation of prison arts programmes, research points to their net positive impacts (Moller ; Nugent and Loucks ; O'Keefe and Albertson ). To understand why, the current study analyses at a more granular level how such programmes can manage to produce favourable outcomes.…”

Reading and Writing in Prison

“…6 On a practical level, promoting reading and writing activities in prisons means negotiating a complex set of expectations by all the stakeholders involved, including the wider public, who are often assumed to prefer punishment over '"fun" activities' and rehabilitation. 7 Briege Nugent and Nancy Loucks note in a recent article on 'creative rehabilitation' in The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice that while the positive impact of arts-related activities in prisons is now accepted as a given in a number of countries, such recognition competes against pressures of overcrowding and understaffing as prison populations continue to rise at a moment of simultaneous budget cuts. Writing with particular reference to the Scottish context, Nugent and Loucks point out that art projects in most prisons are 'not underpinned by strategic policy and sit [s] as an "add on" to the core delivery objective of security' and largely depend on the work of dedicated individuals (366).…”