A pathway for women leaving prison
5 December 2008A pilot arts programme in Auckland, aimed at helping women prisoners reconnect with their families and society when they leave prison, is seeking financial and community support.
Called WAY OUT, STAY OUT: Creative opportunities for women exiting prison, the programme will be run by MARCO Trust. Seed funding from Manchester Trust will get a pilot programme under way in 2009.
Amanda Levey, a registered psychologist, registered arts therapist and trustee of MARCO Trust, says the programme will integrate creative arts therapy with craft and art-making, gardening, dance and movement, and drama and rhythm.
“We’re very excited about the potential of this pilot programme to make a real difference but it’s early days yet,” Amanda says.
“Along with funding, we’re looking for community involvement. We want people to feel inspired by this project and offer their time, money, materials and knowledge. For example, there may be former women prisoners who would like to become involved as mentors and tutors.”
MARCO Trust believes there needs to be more services for women being released from prison. It is planned that women will take part in the programme within the prison as they move towards release. When they exit prison, they will attend an ongoing weekly group, developing their artistic and social skills, at the same time learning to reconnect with their children.
Also envisaged as part of the programme is a gardening and outdoor art project, both within and outside the prison.
Breaking inter-generational cycles
“It’s well-known that putting resources into women offenders is an effective way to create changes in society and break inter-generational cycles of trauma, social problems and criminal activity,” Amanda says.
Other benefits of the programme include:
• making time spent in prison more productive and rehabilitative
• reconnecting mothers with their children, families and communities
• supporting the women to continue activities that may offer income generation opportunities in the creative industries
• reducing re-offending
• contributing to safer, stronger communities.
Celia Lashlie, the first woman prison officer in a male prison and former manager of Christchurch Women’s Prison, believes the answer to breaking the cycle of crime and reducing New Zealand’s prison population “lies within women’s prisons”.
In her book The Journey to Prison: who goes and why (HarperCollins, 2002), Lashlie writes:
“I have met some tough women in my time in women’s prisons, women whose lives are totally chaotic … But what I have never seen in a women’s prison is a woman whose eyes did not light up whenever her children were mentioned … Every woman I have ever met in prison will do almost anything, accept almost any help offered, to ensure her children have a better life.”