Arts in Criminal Justice and Corrections

Amanda Gardner, PhD, is based in the USA and is the co-author of the Prison Arts Resource Project (PARP), the first annotated bibliography of all evidence-based research into US correctional arts programs. The project was funded by the US National Endowment for the Arts. She is also co-director of SCAN Correctional Arts Network, which houses the PARP and serves as a nexus for researchers and practitioners in justice-related arts. She has worked as an arts practitioner in alternative settings, including prisons, jails, and homeless shelters and is the recipient or co-recipient of four National Endowment for the Arts grants. She also has worked as a journalist and has published widely in consumer and academic journals, including the Journal of Prison Education and Reentry and Teachers & Writers. In her work as a community artist, she has edited and published several “zines” written by participants in her workshops as well as two editions of the Albuquerque Almanac, a collection of stories written by and about diverse members of the Albuquerque, New Mexico, community.Laura Caulfield, PhD, is Founding Chair of the Institute for Community Research and Development at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. Laura is a psychologist and criminologist and has written extensively on the role of the arts in criminal justice. Laura’s work has influenced the practice of arts programmes in the criminal justice system and has developed new methodological approaches in seeking to evidence the impact of the arts. She was involved in the design of the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance Evidence Library, a repository for key research and evaluation documents on the impact of arts-based projects, programmes, and interventions within the criminal justice system. Laura is the author of two other books “Forensic Psychology” (2014, Pearson), and “Criminological Skills and Research for Beginners” (2014, 2018, 2025, Routledge).

• 1.Introduction and overview of arts in criminal justice and correctionsMandy Gardner and Laura Caulfield Part 1. The impact of the arts in criminal justice and corrections: What works, how it works, and why2. New theoretical frameworks for designing and evaluating arts-in-corrections programsLarry Brewster, Jack Bowers and Laurie Brooks 3. Developing methodologies to evidence the impact of the arts in criminal justice.Laura Caulfield 4. Practice informs research informs policy informs practice informs... [ad infinitum]David Gussak 5. A realist lens on participatory music programmes in prisonSilke Marynissen, Geert Vandermeersche and Dorien BrosensPart 2. The researcher’s journey6. Education research, vulnerability and positionality: a story of the methodological journey of an education researcher in prisonJennie Henley7. Collaboration as a tool for transformative justice: Writing, songwriting, and communal Singing Mary Cohen 8. Autoethnography as a bridge to shared decision-makingReginold Daniels and Mandy Gardner Part 3. Foregrounding the people in arts spaces9. Making the story count: An argument for the development of a narrative evaluation tool in the arts in criminal justice sectorElla Simpson 10. On games and gamification: Understanding what’s a stake in co-designing with prisoners Lorraine Gamman11. Listening through walls: Enacting a politics of listeningRand Hazou and Sarah Woodland

Informed by recent research in the field, this innovative and international book focuses on the intersection of the arts, corrections and criminal justice. This is an authoritative and accessible book which poses some important questions in light of different approaches and compelling positive evidence of impact. The book is beyond compare!Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, EnglandIn this important contribution to the field, Mandy Gardner and Laura Caulfield present a fascinating variety of research methods at the intersection of cultural practices and the administration of justice in different nations. Through profiles and introspective essays, the researchers are themselves on view, exposing their family histories, motivations and journeys beyond academia as they demonstrate how arts engagement strengthens the humanity of incarcerated people.Alma Robinson, Executive Director, California Lawyers for the Arts, United StatesBuilding on the foundations laid by decades of interdisciplinary research, this book is a compelling testament to the transformative potential of the arts within the criminal justice system. Through its pages, the reader is taken on a journey across continents and disciplines, discovering ways in which the arts can serve as a catalyst for change and healing. By foregrounding both original pioneers and new thinkers in the field, it will serve as both a historical account and a forward-looking perspective, encouraging researchers, practitioners and policymakers to think critically about the role of the arts in addressing systemic issues within criminal justice. A groundbreaking work that’s a must-read for those in the fields of criminal justice, the arts and social advocacy.Neil Wallace, Arts in Corrections Advisor, Arts Access Aotearoa, New Zealand“The global potential for a flourishing of creativity in prisons has never been greater. Along with individual practitioner accounts and pedagogical innovations, we need new constructive and effective methods of evaluation to explain how arts-in-corrections programmes can deliver worthy outcomes, ranging from recidivism reduction to the transformation of willing people by building self-esteem, strengthening life skills, and finding new identities as productive members of the community following re-entry. Accordingly, this pioneering work in the promising field of evaluative methodologies for the arts in prison cultures is timely, essential, and inspiring.” John R. Whitman, Creative Prisons Project, Chicago, IL, USA, Cultural Trends