All artistic activity in the prison setting can be sub divided into three categories.

These are:  1) Doodling           2) Drama             3) Exhibition

1)  Doodling is the creative shaping of bits of bread, the scribbling on bits of paper. It is what happens first, where ideas are generated and creativity must have its expression. This is done in isolation.

“A prisoner in prison meets and has to spend time with the one person he/she did not think they would meet – themselves.” (Carlo Gébler – Writer in Residence for PAF)

2) Drama is the ‘trade off’ that happens next, the role play, the exchange (I’ll give you a doodle for a cigarette). It creates interactions, and sometimes conflicts. There is relationship and negotiation implied in this stage. Ideas can be developed to afford a better exchange. This next stage is the interaction stage. A prisoner strives to get better at an activity while they have time to concentrate. This ‘getting better’ is learning at its infant stage.

Artists-in-Residence; professional artists in this criminal justice setting allow people with ‘time’ on their hands to be creative, to produce without any rehabilitation agenda – they are recruited because they subscribe to a Prison Arts Foundation policy that “Art is a medium for change – Prison is just a venue”. This is the beginnings of the conduit into education or more formal ways of learning – life time skills positively reinforced. The measurements are achievable goals.

3) Exhibition is the performance part. The acquiring of new skills [rehabilitation is simply this]. “Here I am. This is my offering.” It is when the pictures are hung on the wall, when the drama has an audience. This is when community is built; when sets need to be made, uniformed and non uniformed officers can be involved, resources pooled.  In an ideal situation the whole prison can become part of this process. When a prisoner can stand alongside the work they have produced and say ‘this is what I have done’ in a creative way with confidence then they have a positive reinforcement to the other changes they must make to address their offending behaviour.

Another important element in taking drama into prisons is that of bringing in live Theatre, and professional artists. Inmates can get a sense of what is good theatre/art. They can build judgment criteria. Most of them will not have seen any professional theatre nor mixed with people who lives are built around creative production; these are positive exchanges that inspire change and other viewpoints.

When we bring in their families as well as other professional artists to ‘witness’ the work we allow prisoners and their families to see that this activity is not just to ‘pass the time’ [jail craft if you like] it is important in a process, the journey to change. Markers, if you like to allow self esteem to take place in the rehabilitation process.

We all have a MORAL COMPASS – for all decisions we make in the world. It can be argued that the reason that someone is in prison is because their compass is ‘off-kilter’.

In terms of producing a piece of theatre, the process of ‘characterisation’ – the getting inside of the character to portray that person on stage involves ‘walking their walk’ in physical theatre terms.

How far is this from wanting our offenders to think about their victims using ‘restorative justice principles’?