Dear minister for prisons James Timpson. As the daughter of a former prisoner and someone who has taught creative, design education and entrepreneurial skills in prison for a long time, I welcome your appointment. Many recognise that prison rarely rehabilitates, instead it is a criminogenic environment.
Prison may cost as much as the best private education, but it traps people in cycles of despair and shame, rarely offering visions of a better life. In a country, which you have observed is “addicted to punishment”, where only a third of current inmates should “definitely” be in prison” we need a bigger vision. That’s why at Design Against Crime Research Lab at University of the Arts London, we want every prison to be a creative hub to help reduce recidivism and build resilience.
This doesn’t just mean creative education for prisoners but also access to soft design skills that can lead to jobs. How Starmer’s new prisons minister James Timpson wants to change the way we lock people up How the UK prison system ‘sets people up to fail’ Prison crisis: Early release scheme could see hundreds of prisoners released into homelessness Prison is full of people with creative talent and unfulfilled aspirations, just like the rest of us! Let’s put it to different use..
.The success of so many art and creative initiatives in UK prisons is already on record. Yet creative projects are still seen as a “luxury” rather than a pragmatic source of skill building.
That’s .