Songwriting projects in prisons. Case study of a “vox session” in HMP Castle Huntly

Abstract

In the context of an increasing prison population in Scotland, the purpose of this dissertation is to consider the potential benefits of songwriting programmes within prisons, both generally, and specifically from the point of desistance theory. It does this by studying a “Vox Session” taking place at the open prison HMP Castle Huntly. This is a 3-day songwriting workshop run by an external organisation, Vox Liminis, and whose participants include prisoners, ex-prisoners, a prison officer, academic criminologists and the researcher, who took an active part.

Participant observation, semi-structured interviews and the song lyrics produced were all treated as data sources. Through a process of thematic analysis this data supported the use of songwriting projects in their ability to achieve intermediate outcomes on the desistance journey such as maturational reform, motivation, social bonds, confidence and self-esteem, as well as providing a “community” where a participant’s “non-offender” identity could be brought to the fore and accepted by the group, contributing to a form of social rehabilitation. The cathartic nature of the songwriting process also emerged as a theme from the data despite not being recognised within the literature review.

The theme of this “Vox Session” was re-entry and the songs and interviews provided an insight into the views of prisoners on this concept. The findings highlight that for these individuals re-entry was often viewed as a welcome return to the family unit rather than a more uncertain return to the wider community, highlighting the importance of social bonds in this journey.

Overall, the research highlighted a range of benefits of songwriting projects within prisons, some common to general music or arts programmes but some felt to be unique to this genre and project set-up.