We Need More Prisons With Art Programs

How prisons are using art programs to make life behind bars more productive, meaningful, and positive

I'd be willing to bet that if studies were conducted in prisons with art programs versus prisons without art programs, you'd find higher recidivism in the no-art group of prisoners. I'll bet there's less violence among prisoners involved in creating art.

One of the huge hurdles in bringing art to prisons is lack of support and resouces for such programs. The trend of our current prison system is to eliminate weight rooms, the availability of education, and even cigarettes for prisoners. Our prison system sometimes seem to work to perpetuate its population, not diminish it.

Creating art can be relaxing, stimulating, entertaining, engaging, enriching, challenging, and just downright fun. This could be part of the problem also. Art in our society is seen as a luxury, not a necessity. Some people seem to think that art is purely a recreational experience and that perhaps prisoners deserve no fun for their crimes. My theory is that art is absolutely necessary in the everyday life of humans whether we are aware of it or not.

Thanks to the internet, prison art is more accessible than ever. There are several interesting places online where you can view and purchase prison art as well as crafts. There's also an excellent Prison Art Project in Michigan and another in San Francisco.

And there are no prisoners growing wealthy on the art they create and sell in prison. Much of the art created is tattoo art that is part of the prison barter system of goods and services. As for works bought and sold on the internet, prisoners are only allowed to make modest profits in the sale of their work.

Considering that in the United States alone there are currently more than 2.2 million prisoners, I think we should pay attention to prison culture and expression.