| Arts mentoring for released prisoners: a major new pilot Supported By: Koestler awards have a powerful impact on offenders’ self-esteem, and we have informally supported several individuals to go on to careers as writers and painters. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that offenders who have taken part successfully in the arts while in prison fully intend to carry on when they are released, but in practice fail to do so. Like many other positive habits and plans made in custody, arts activity often gets lost in the difficult transition back into life on the outside. So we are now looking to innovate a kind of support that addresses the transition out of custody and has more sustained impact. There is lots of research evidence that ex-prisoners are more vulnerable to re-offending if they are unemployed, socially isolated, homeless or using drugs. Participation in the arts can lead to employable skills, high self-esteem, collaboration with others and a feeling of purpose in life. So it makes sense that, if artistically inclined prisoners can be supported to keep up their creative interests after release, this will not only sustain their involvement in the arts, but also have wider benefits for them and for others, potentially breaking a cycle of re-offending. Thanks to a 3-year grant from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, and further funding from an anonymous charitable trust, we will train a group of professional artists as mentors, then match them to prisoners (mostly aged under 30) who have won Koestler awards and are due for release. Working alongside Probation and other resettlement services, the mentors will support the offenders to maintain and develop their arts activity in the community. We will integrate an evaluation into the initial 3-year pilot, aiming to demonstrate that the arts can have wide-ranging benefits for offenders and their communities – potentially reducing re-offending – and to disseminate an imaginative new model of resettlement support. For more information, please email smatheve@koestlertrust.org.uk
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Mosaic Project in the exercise yard
HMYOI Rochester
HMYOI Feltham
Ceramic tile project
HMP Brixton