Evaluations
Write to be Heard: Supporting Offender Learning through Creative Writing
The report explores the impact of a creative writing programme developed to engage ‘hard to reach’ learners in prison. The mechanism was a creative writing competition, incorporating a schedule of workshops in 28 prisons, encouraging entrants to write pieces for broadcast on National Prison Radio (NPR). Using qualitative and quantitative ... read on →
The Melting Pot: Evaluation
A three-year creative writing and mentoring project working at the DSPD Unit, HMP Frankland. The report shows how the project contributed to the overall well-being of men in the Unit and contributed to the rehabilitation programme. Section 2 includes a Replicability Model and the development of performance indicators and an ... read on →
“The Good Days are Amazing” An Evaluation of the Writers in Prison Network
This qualitative evaluation by Sheffield Hallam University was designed to:
Good Vibrations: Music and social education for young offenders
This evaluation looked at the project from the point of view of music education, identifying individual and social factors generated through musical development that also are attributed to desistence from crime. These were divided into two categories:- Individual Agency:Personal Identity Diversity Motivation Hope Self-determination Personal strengths Social Interactions: Professional relationships ... read on →
Musical Learning and Desistance from Crime: The case of a 'Good Vibrations' Javanese Gamelan project with young offenders
This paper discusses new empirical evidence for a positive relationship between musical learning and desistance from crime. On investigating the learning processes occurring within a Javanese gamelan project in a Young Offenders Institution, parallels between musical learning processes and the development of certain attributes linked to desistance from crime emerged. ... read on →
An evaluation of the Artist in Residence at HMP Grendon
Through observation and interviews with inmates and staff,this report documents the process of developing an artistic residency in a Therapeutic Community prison and provides an evaluation of the impact on those taking part. Based on observations across four prison wings and interviews with sixteen inmates, this report is able to conclude that ... read on →
Inspiring Change: Final Project Report of the Evaluation Team
An evaluation of a series of arts-based interventions across the Scottish criminal justice system, focusing on the impact of engagement in these programmes on offenders’ attitudes and behaviours as well as their ability to learn.The findings concentrate on examining the quality of the arts experience, the people and processes involved, ... read on →
Arts Mentoring for Released Prisoners: An Evaluation Project - interim report
An interim report on the evaluation of the Koestler Trust's mentoring scheme. The evaluation concerns both the implementation and effectiveness of the mentoring scheme, and employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, including direct observation of mentoring sessions and hour-long, face-to-face interviews with both mentors and mentees. The implementation part of ... read on →
The Academy: a report on outcomes for participants
An evaluation of the two-year experimental phase of Dance United’s Academy project, this report showed that the Academy’s dance-led education programme delivered measurable increases in their capacity to learn and imparted a range of so-called ‘soft’ skills, which can, in turn, be linked to very favourable ‘hard’ outcomes in criminal ... read on →
Developments in the HM Prison Service and Safe Ground Family Man programme, and the Safe Ground Network during 2007-8: An independent review
The purpose of this evaulation was to examine the developments Safe Ground had made to one of its prison interventions, Family Man, and to the Safe Ground network during the period 2007-08 following recommendations made in previous reviews. It utilised semi structured qualitative face to face interviews, telephone interviews and questionnaires ... read on →
Beats & Bars - Music in Prisons: An Evaluation
The report evaluated a series of five-day music projects which took place in eight men’s prisons across England from October 2007 to July 2008. The evaluation was aimed at understanding the impact of the project on its participants’ engagement with purposeful activities whilst in prison. In particular the impact of ... read on →
Evaluation of Dancing Inside: a creative workshop by Motionhouse Dance Theatre_yr 2 programme
This present study examines year two of the Dancing Inside project:Motionhouse Dance Theatre workshops conducted with prisoners in HMP Dovegate’s Therapeutic Community. Its aim was to provide evidence for the short term impacts of participating in the workshops and also to examine the longer term gains made by dance participants. ... read on →
