Enrichment activities? Arts, creativity and spirituality in criminal justice systems

英国政府正在考虑一场“康复革命”。它正在研究如何减少监狱人口和再犯罪率。这两者都将减少政府和更广泛社会的货币和情感成本。新政策将要求所有囚犯在监狱里学习一项新的技能或职业，这将有助于他们出狱后过守法的生活。在开展职业、教育和心理活动的同时，监狱和缓刑讲习班允许罪犯绘画、刺绣和缝纫、制作陶器和音乐、写作和表演故事、诗歌和戏剧。他们很有创造力。这些活动大多不是严格意义上的改变罪犯的行为或教他们新的职业技能（尽管写一个故事或一首歌可能有助于提高他们的读写能力）。它是关于确保监狱履行其职责，以体面和人道的方式惩罚和改造囚犯。当人们参加一项创造性的或精神的活动时，他们会感到“受影响”。情感是对一个群体的归属感，或者是对自己所做的事情的自豪感。澳大利亚研究人员发现，涂鸦艺术家在喷漆时也有同样的反应——故意破坏。如果情感在犯罪行为中起作用，那么它是否也能在减少再次犯罪方面发挥作用呢？有研究表明，艺术干预对破碎的社区和人们的总体健康和福祉有积极的影响，但很少有学术文献支持这样的观点，即在监狱里参加一些创造性的活动会减少罪犯未来违法的可能性。这个系列研讨会将有助于改变这种状况。这个创新的系列研讨会不仅仅是为了增加学术知识；这对艺术家、剧作家、演员、音乐家、监狱管理者和工作人员、慈善资助机构、研究人员和公务员以及政府决策者都很重要。所有这些团体的人都将被邀请在研讨会上发言和参加，以便他们可以分享经验和想法。参与者将考虑艺术家、作家和演员在监狱和缓刑环境中进行创造性活动的效果。它将帮助社会科学家、心理学家、医生、律师和优秀艺术家比较他们对人们如何参与创造性活动的不同理解。然后，他们将能够运用这些知识来理解什么可能改变罪犯未来的行为和态度。监狱管理者和工作人员将能够谈论举办戏剧或展览对囚犯的影响，这可能会减少监狱中的暴力和不可接受的行为。然后，该系列讨论会将把所有这些因素结合起来，帮助所有与会者改进今后的研究和评价。改进记录最佳做法将确保资金只分配给最有效的倡议。一项有效的举措是具有积极结果的举措：囚犯心理健康的改善可能意味着他们需要减少看医生的次数；囚犯们学会了对彼此或工作人员不那么咄咄逼人，因为他们学会了表演的沟通技巧，这意味着一个更平静的监狱环境；一个被释放的囚犯以纺织品设计师的身份创业意味着他们再次犯罪的可能性要小得多。所有这些积极的结果都有利于更广泛的社会。虽然多年来在监狱中开展了大量积极的创造性活动，但直到最近才开始发表显示这项工作影响的研究。该系列研讨会将最终改善研究和证据，证明在改造罪犯时的有效性和物有所值。

The UK government is considering a 'rehabilitation revolution'. It is investigating how to reduce the prison population and reoffending. Both of these will reduce monetary and emotional costs to the government and wider society. New policies will require all prisoners to learn a new skill or vocation for a job in prison, which will help then them lead law abiding lives after release. At the same time as vocational, educational and psychological initiatives are being run, prison and probation workshops are allowing offenders to paint and draw, embroider and stitch, make pottery and music, write and perform stories, poems and plays. They are being creative. Most of this activity is not strictly about changing an offender's behaviour or teaching them new vocational skills (although writing a story or a song might help with literacy). It is about ensuring that prisons fulfil their duty to punish and rehabilitate prisoners with decency and humanity. When people take part in a creative, or spiritual, activity they feel 'affect'. Affect is a sense of belonging to a community, or a pride in something which they have made themselves. Australian researchers found that graffiti artists reported having the same sort of response when spray painting - committing the act of vandalism. If affect plays a role in offending behaviour, could it also play a part in reducing reoffending? There is work to suggest that artistic interventions have a positive impact on broken communities and people's general health and well-being, but there is little academic literature to support the ideas that taking part in something creative while in prison will reduce an offender's likelihood of breaking the law in the future. This seminar series will help to change that.This innovative seminar series is not just about increasing academic knowledge; it is important for artists, playwrights, actors, musicians, prison governors and staff, charitable funding agencies, researchers and civil servants and government policy makers. People from all of these groups will be invited to speak at, and take part in, the seminars so that they can share experience and ideas. The participants will consider what works well when artists, writers, and actors deliver creative activities in prisons and probation settings. It will help social scientists, psychologists, medics, lawyers and fine artists compare their different understanding of how people experience taking part in creative activities. They will then be able to apply this knowledge to their understanding of what might change offenders' future behaviour and attitudes. Prison governors and staff will be able to talk about the impact that holding plays or exhibitions has on prisoners, which may then result in less violence and unacceptable behaviour in the prison. The seminar series will then draw all of these elements together in helping all participants to improve future research and evaluation. Improvements in recording best-practice will ensure that funds are allocated to only the most effective initiatives. An effective initiative is one that has a positive outcome: an improvement in a prisoner's mental health, might mean that they have to be seen by a doctor less often; prisoners learn to react less aggressively towards each other or staff because of the communication skills they learn staging a play, which means a calmer prison environment; a released prisoner setting up a business as a textile designer meaning that they are much less likely to reoffend. All of these positive outcomes are good for wider society. While there has been a good deal of positive, creative activity being carried out in prisons for a number of years, it is only very recently that the research to show the impact of this work has begun to be published. This seminar series will ultimately improve the research and evidence that demonstrates effectivness and value for money when rehabilitating offenders.