Democratising Cultural Production: Knowledge Exchange and Prison

This project will work with a cohort of London based prisoners drawn from multi-ethnic and working-class demographics. Its aim is to place the means of audio-visual representation into the hands of those routinely denied the means for creative, critical self-expression. Pedagogic practice within prison is typically narrowly defined and dependent on top-down delivery of skills such as numeracy
and literacy, reducing education to an instrumentalization that effectively refuses prisoners opportunities to creatively access their own experiences. This project provides an opportunity for prisoners to create their own films from the idea stage through to the filming and editing stage. In this way they can effectively challenge dominant representations of prisoners and the stigmatising narratives around them.
In mainstream film and television, prisons are represented as places of violence and social pathology full of dangerous people, creating stereotypes that structure both the representation and discussions of the lives of prison and prisoners. The research hypothesis of this project posits that access to the means of audio-visual film production, within a critical pedagogic framework, creates
opportunities for self-understanding and informed critical engagement with the social environment for those prisoners taking part. It provides an alternative educational model for prison policy makers drawing on film, media, and pedagogic studies. The project builds on my existing work with inside Film (which has previously worked in HMP Wandsworth and HMP Rochester) and my published
work on film and class.
At the same time this project offers an opportunity to transfer knowledge of prison and prisoners to those with no knowledge of either and in the process to gain a greater understanding of both.
At the centre of the project’s impact focused plans is the production and distribution of films made by prisoners to engage the wider pubic, media and policy makers and to leave a learning resource for students and teachers. We will organize public screenings alongside post screening debates and panels. In collaboration with the University of Hertfordshire and organisations such as the Centre of Crime and Justice Studies and Open Book (an organisation dedicated to supporting a wide range of people from non-traditional backgrounds such as ex prisoners enter higher education) this research will generate new knowledge about prison and prisoners, tackling systematic and systemic misinformation and undermining negative stereotypes.