NCJ Number
132052
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 53 Issue: 5 Dated: (August 1991) Pages: 146,148,150-152
Date Published
1991
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Inmate arts and crafts programs provide benefits both to the inmate participants and to the prison administration.
Abstract
Arts programs pay for themselves in reduced cost for correctional staff and for vandalism. Studies indicate that extensive inmate involvement in prison programs decreases the need for a large staff of officers to supervise and observe idle inmates. Also, inmates whose energies and interests are devoted to the arts are less inclined to engage in property damage and other misconduct. For prison administrators, the arts are a time-management tool. Classes in the arts reduce inmate idle time and occupy them in constructive activities. An arts program is also a relatively low-cost means of introducing inmates to a new value system and positive role models. Art has the capacity to absorb the interests and mold the values of those who practice it. Art teachers guide inmates into the expression of emotions through skills that have been dormant. Out of this activity, a new self-concept emerges that is based in the creation of something valuable to oneself and to others. Evaluations of art programs throughout the Nation report that the arts in all their forms do change inmates lives for the better.