Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's organization, The Art of Living, has been making a significant impact on the lives of former inmates in India through its Prison Rehabilitation Program. Since 2019, the program has rehabilitated and reintegrated over 6,500 inmates across 28 prisons in India [3d4171c9].
The Prison Rehabilitation Program focuses on skill development and behavioral well-being, offering vocational training and certifications to inmates. More than 5,000 inmates have received certifications, positively impacting over 800,000 lives globally. The program includes various training modules such as emotional healing with clay, beauty and wellness skills, mobile repair training, tailoring, electrical skills, sports equipment training, gardening, and handicrafts [3d4171c9].
The Art of Living has implemented several initiatives in prisons to support the rehabilitation process. This includes the establishment of an electrical lab, a tailoring unit, and a Digital Literacy Training Program. These initiatives aim to provide practical skills and nurture positive change in inmates, offering them a second chance at a meaningful life beyond prison walls [3d4171c9].
In addition to The Art of Living's efforts, a school in Jharkhand, India, is also providing free spoken English courses to students. The Speedwell English Spoken and Art School, founded by Vipin Kumar in 2019, offers free English education to students from the 5th grade to the graduation level. The courses cover English reading, writing, speaking, grammar, personality development, bonding, organization behavior, group discussion, art, technical drawing, mehndi design, and more. The school also organizes competitions and provides free study materials to students. Registration for enrollment is currently open [9707413a].
Moreover, the impact of prison education programs is not limited to India. Eastern University's Prison Education Program (PEP) in the United States is providing incarcerated students with the opportunity to obtain an Associate of the Arts degree in the Liberal Arts. The program operates at SCI-Chester, a medium-security prison. Recently, traditional students from Eastern University, including the author of an article published in The Waltonian, have taken PEP courses, aiming to integrate more students in the future. Despite the lack of resources allowed in the prison, such as electronics and textbooks, the traditional students have become immersed in prison culture, enhancing their learning experience. The presence of traditional students in the PEP class has been well-received by the incarcerated students, who appreciate the sense of normalcy and motivation that the traditional students bring. The author of the article found the experience impactful and encourages others to consider taking a course with PEP [0527d969].
Hospital Rooms, a UK-based organization, has launched a major nationwide arts program called Digital Art School. The three-year program aims to provide artist-led digital workshops and free art materials to every NHS inpatient mental health site in England, reaching 180,000 inpatients diagnosed with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) per year. All 58 NHS mental health trusts in England have registered to participate, and the project aims to reach all 598 mental health units managed by NHS England. Digital Art School is supported by Arts Council England, the Art Explora – Académie des Beaux-Arts European Award, Winsor & Newton, and Pinterest, with additional support from Manuela and Iwan Wirth. The program will provide free, monthly artist-led workshops, available to watch live or on-demand, accompanied by high-quality art resources for NHS staff to facilitate sessions for service users in mental health units. The program features workshops created with acclaimed artists including Abbas Zahedi, Dolly Sen, Giles Deacon, José Parlá, Ken Nwadiogbu, Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Sarah Dwyer, Sutapa Biswas, and more. Each inpatient site will receive a bespoke materials box designed by artist José Parlá, filled with art supplies donated by Winsor & Newton. The program has been designed with, and for, people with SMI, alongside NHS staff. Hospital Rooms is collaborating closely with the NHS to democratize access to arts and creativity and enrich the lives of patients nationwide. The program builds on a pilot project developed by Hospital Rooms during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the nationwide rollout marks a major milestone for Hospital Rooms' ongoing mission to bring art and creativity to mental health spaces. Digital Art School will also be available to the public through its new digital platform, which will host an archive of over 50 workshops, making the program accessible to the 8 million people on waiting lists to access NHS mental health services [238c2e40].
Melissa Etheridge, the renowned singer-songwriter, recently fulfilled a career dream by performing a concert at a women's prison in Kansas. The concert was part of her new Paramount+ docuseries, 'Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken,' which showcases her journey and connection with inmates. Etheridge got to know the inmates at the Kansas women's prison and recorded the special concert for a live album. The performance was captured on video and can be viewed online. This unique opportunity allowed Etheridge to bring music to the women in the prison and was a career highlight for her. The concert took place in July 2024 [6e1c54d0].
A new exhibition titled 'Message in a Bottle' explores how inmates may feel when seeking to contact the outside world. The exhibition is a result of a series of creative writing workshops in Limerick Women’s Prison, in association with University of Limerick's Creative Writing MA. It features collaborative poetry and individual work that reflects the daily contemplations of someone in prison, including thoughts, dreams, ambitions, love, grief, and a desire to change. The exhibition's five glass bottles contain statistics related to incarceration. The exhibition is funded by Professor Eoin Devereux and facilitated by Anita Dooley and Limerick Prison's staff. The writers remain anonymous, but the hope is that one day they will be able to claim their work. The exhibition is on display at The People's Museum in Limerick.