Behind the cell door: Exploring how enhanced opportunities for self-led creativity impact on the mental wellbeing of adults living in prison.

This research will explore the impact of creative 'in-cell' opportunities on the wellbeing of adults living in prison. Framed by socially engaged museum practice (Chynoweth, 2021), it will examine creativity rooted in the heritage of 'illicit' making in prisons (International Red Cross, 2017), utilising museum artefacts made in prison settings as a catalyst for connectivity and lived experience insight. The research follows an extended period of Covid 19 restrictions in English prisons, with people confined to cells for up to 23 hours a day (HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales Annual Report 2021-22). The tediousness of this experience, and lack of stimuli to take minds off confinement has contributed to rising levels of poor mental health with 1 in 3 prisoners showing symptoms of severe anxiety disorders (User Voice, 2022). With the increased 'cell-time', selfharm in prisons is at the second highest recorded level with 55,542 annual incidents in 2021 (Bromley Briefing, 2022). It is well documented 'that arts have a profound impact in improving the lives of people in the criminal justice system' (National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance, 2019), with research evidencing the positive impacts of group and practitioner led Page 3 of 6 therapeutic, rehabilitative, and educational art. This project fills a void to explore 'other types' (Fleetwood, 2020) of inventive creativity, to focus specifically on self led in-cell creativity, linked to the restorative benefits of making within a restricted regime. The inquiry will be guided by the following research questions, exploring how access to enriched creative opportunities behind the cell door might improve the wellbeing of adults living in prison:
What are adults making in prison cells, of their own volition, with what, for what purpose?
What are the wellbeing benefits of enabling opportunities for self-led making behind closed cell doors?
What is preventing prison regimes from improving access and opportunity for people to make in their cells?
What materials might be useful in performing the role of 'creative first aid' when the cell door closes?
I will apply qualitative exploratory research methods underpinned by a reflexive autoethnographic approach (Ellis, C. et al, 2011), centering the lived experience of adults living and working in five mixed security prisons to determine the relevance and impact of crafting objects in-cell. Individual interviews with an intersectional sample of 70 prisoners and 20 staff members will sit alongside small group ideation sessions using design thinking tools (Tschimmel, 2012) museum objects, and creative materials to explore and map the emotional impact of making. The significance of this study lies in its potential to address how enhanced creative opportunities in-cell, inspired by prison made museum objects might have beneficial impacts to counterbalance 'harmful impacts of imprisonment on mental health' (World Health Organisation,2021). I aim for findings to contribute to an interdisciplinary research gap in the fields of museum studies and criminology, support research into socially engaged museum practice and use of artefacts as a source of compassionate creative connection with prison communities (Forster, Page 4 of 6 2016), inform improvements in HMPPS policy and wellbeing strategies and provide pathways to creative first aid for people living in prison.