Prisoners – Teachers Learn ETD

Teaching Prisoners

Teaching English to Prisoners and Other Vulnerable Groups

With adaptation and imagination the contents of this course can also be applied to teaching other vulnerable groups such as refugees, the homeless and those suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder)

This final course can be about using all the skills you have acquired through previous courses to help prisoners – and others – have fun, gain self confidence and acquire English. You may not have access to working in prisons yourself, but perhaps you can help those who do.

Radio Drama can tick many boxes for prisoners. It can provide them with the skills of writing, acting, technical expertise, an outlet for their musical ability and team-work. It can give them joy, confidence and a sense of purpose. Also through writing and performing plays and documentaries that may also involve victims, families and staff, it may encourage them to use their imagination to identify with another point of view; helping them in turn to become contributing members of society.

One of the advantages of radio as opposed to film is that it can be a cost effective way for a community to participate in the creative process of educating, informing and entertaining; and to produce a finished result in a short time.

I have been fortunate in working with Mary Stephenson, who was Writer in Residence at Her Majesty’s Prison, Channings Wood, Newton Abbott. She wrote a play from life about a bare-knuckle boxer, who had been sentenced for murder and whose girl friend had given birth just after his imprisonment. His girlfriend then married another man, but the growing relationship of the prisoner with his son was very moving. The prisoner played himself and Nicole Tongue, a student actress, cleared along with myself to enter the prison, played his son. (Yes, on radio actresses can often play young boys.) Staff and other inmates were effective in playing themselves. The result was broadcast on the prison radio.

We also worked with the prison’s Drugs Therapeutic Community to put together three twenty minutes radio features with the overall title of A Journey through Drugs. These were compiled from interviews with the prisoners and their families, friends and staff, also with their poems, music and songs composed and performed and improvised dramas. Part one was The First Fix, part two The Depths and Going to Prison and part three Rehabilitation.

This won the radio category of the Arthur Koestler award for creative work in prisons. One of the judges wrote:

“This was outstanding in every way. I was moved, appalled and saddened by the tragedies I heard. You educated and informed me and I can only say I feel encouraged that you are working together to start new lives. My admiration is boundless and I cannot congratulate you enough.”

After the opening credits The First Fix started:

The First Fix

(WE HAVE THE OPENING CREDITS AND THEN:)

(ELECTRONIC MUSIC SWELL AND TAKE UNDER)
YOUNG DRUG USER:	I take drugs for fun. I don’t take drugs to become completely and utterly disassociated from reality. Do you know what I mean? I’m in control of it – definitely.
INMATE 1:	At times I knew I had a problem, but because it wasn’t affecting me really, I didn’t realise I was a Junkie, like people see a junkie with needles hanging out of their arms and whatever. It was summat I thought I could handle, but I realised it was stopping me progress in life basically.
(SWELL DREAMY, EXOTIC ELECTRONIC MUSIC AND TAKE UNDER:)
STUDENT ACTRESS:	(Reading from Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-eater) Oh just, subtle and all conquering opium that to the hearts of rich and poor alike bringest an assuaging balm. Eloquent opium! Thou buildest upon the bosom of darkness, out of the fantastic imageries of the brain, cities and temples beyond the splendours of Babylon and from the anarchy of dreaming sleep call’st into sunny light the faces of long buried beauties. Thou hast the keys of paradise.
(SWELL MUSIC AND FADE)
INMATE 2:	Next time I took, it in was in Bombay, in India. I met this French prostitute and her fellow who was selling heroin at two pound a gram. I thought give us a go of that like.

Two scenes later for the first time Bert shares his problems with the Drugs Therapeutic Community.

Two students from Dartington Arts School then explained how they draw on the life experiences of prisoners to help them create improvised dramas, which I then directed for radio. Thus we introduced a 90 second playlet about becoming a drug addict. Then we interwove further interviews (in which the interviewer was always edited out), poems, songs and more drama to tell the story of how many drug addicts become addicted.

With these programmes recorded at Channings Wood Prison we had to undergo stringent security procedures and work within strictly circumscribed hours. Also as we were working ‘on location’ we had to be very patient in working round interruptions. We usually used the prison chapel for recording as it was carpeted and less echoey than most of the assembly rooms, corridors or cells. Occasionally we recorded outside in the prison precincts. After recording we edited in the prison studio with prisoners, who were learning to use the prison radio’s audio editing software. Paradoxically I discovered that making radio programmes in prison imbued me with a wonderful sense of freedom. I think it was because the exercise released the prisoners’ imaginations. It could take the prisoners anywhere and I shared their journey with them.

The two next episodes are The Lower Depths and Prison and Prison, Rehabilitation and Hoped For Recovery

The Lower Depths and Prison

Prison, Rehabilitation and Hoped For Recovery

Building on the success of the Drugs Therapeutic Community feature we were also asked to produce a radio soap opera with the prisoners and staff of Channings Wood. We also included episodes about the challenges and problems of prisoners’ families. We recorded some episodes outside the prison with staff and friends as actors. Thus we gave the soap a working title of Inside Out.

The Soap was about the Drugs Therapeutic Unit but it was recorded with prisoners in the main prison, as well as some scenes with prisoners in the separated VPU (Vulnerable Prisoner’s Unit). The VPU is for prisoners, such as child abusers who might be attacked by other prisoners. One of our main intentions was to awaken prisoners to the damage they had caused to others and to give them the skills and confidence not to offend again.

Prison Radio Soap Opera 1: Channings Wood Prison

Episode 1 Scene 1

(EPISODE 1. SCENE 1. INTERIOR ACOUSTIC OF LARGE ROOM. THERE IS BACKGROUND CHATTER OF MALE PRISONERS.)
JIM:	You, all right?
BERT:	Whatever.
JIM:	How was your journey down here?
BERT:	Rubbish mate, staying in all the jails and that. Bang out of order mate.
JIM:	Yeah.
BERT:	All I want to do is get some kip. I can’t even get my property. They say I’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
JIM:	I know what you mean.
BERT:	I’ve got to leave it in reception over night. I’ve done that for the past two days, coming down here. Now I’ve got to leave it over again for three days. I can’t even brush my teeth. I had to use prison issue yesterday. I don’t like that.
JIM:	That’s the prison system for you. You’ve come to the drugs therapeutic community . To do something for your life, but you’re still in prison. We’ve got to abide by their rules at the end of the day.
BERT:	Look mate. I just can’t get my head around it.
JIM:	What I want to talk to you about is the induction. It’s a five or six weeks period. You’re going to be working on issues, you don’t even know you have yet.
BERT:	Right.
JIM:	What I’ve got here is a little induction book for yer.
BERT:	Sweet mate.
JIM:	If you’ve got any thoughts … feelings write ’em down.
BERT:	For what? Put my feelings on paper.
JIM:	Yes, someone brings feelings out and you write em down. If you don’t understand summat, then we’ll read ’em out …. in the group.
BERT:	You’re ‘aving a laugh, aren’t yer? And everyone hears it?
JIM:	That’s what you’re here for. If there’s summat you can’t put down, yeah? Because you feel embarrassed to talk about it in a room full of lads …
BERT:	I don’t like that.
JIM:	You got a structure and me; first port of call. Come and see me. I’m in Derby 2.
BERT:	Yeah. Right.
JIM:	It’s going to be hard to get your head around this place, but I say is, for the life you’ve had out there and all the pain we’ve caused other people, mainly our families…
(WE HEAR LAUGHTER IN THE BACKGROUND)
BERT:	What’s that there?
JIM:	What them in dresses?
BERT:	What’s he doing?
JIM:	It’s not that, innit? You know ….
BERT:	How’s he get a wig and a dress in prison? What’s that all about, man?
JIM:	It’s a confidence building thing.. Some people who haven’t got confidence to go out and perform in the morning meeting…
BERT:	Get on him. He’s dancing in a mini skirt. What’s that? He’s got a crop top on as well. How’s he get high heeled shoes in jail ?
JIM:	Do you not wear them clothes?
BERT:	What do you take me for, some kind of tranny? What’s that all about? We’re criminals in jail, man. You don’t bounce around in dresses.
JIM:	That can prevent you from going there and taking drugs and dying somewhere in a corner.
BERT:	What? Dancing in a dress will stop me from selling drugs.
JIM:	Yeah.
BERT:	Look at him. He loves it. Red dress, high heels and a wig. He’s got summat down his top to make fake … er … think top half things.
(BACKGROUND CHAT)
BERT:	What’s that all about man?
(MORE BACKGROUND CHAT)
BERT:	I can’t take this . I’m leaving.
JIM:	Go on you don’t want to be a know all, like my old mate, Billy Braggard.
BERT:	Why who’s Billy Braggard? Is he one of those trannies over there?
JIM:	Billy only dresses in tattoos. I knew him in Exeter. You don’t want to be a career criminal like him. He’s over on the main now.

Two scenes later for the first time Bert shares his problems with the Drugs Therapeutic Community.

Episode 1 Scene 3

CRAIG:	Good afternoon community my name’s Craig.
EVERY BODY SHOUTS:	Good afternoon Craig.
CRAIG:	Please welcome Bert Jackson to the community.
(LOTS OF CHEERING AND CLAPPING)
BERT:	Good afternoon community my name’s Bert.
ALL SHOUT:	Good afternoon Bert.
BERT:	Er… Thanks for that, lads, for making me feel welcome. Er … I’m a bit nervous, so bare with me, please, lads. Well, I’ve come here, cos I’ve got a thirteen year old daughter. She’s called Katie, you know. And I love her to bits, you know. Er .. I just want to sort out my life. Be a good Dad, and stop letting her down, and meself down. And just basically be there for her and live a drugs free life. And that’s it, lads.
(EVERYBODY CHEERS AGAIN. CRAIG INVITES ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE COMMUNITY)
CRAIG:	Ok, Norman’s spot. Cooper.
COOPER:	Afternoon community, my name’s Cooper.
EVERYBODY:	Afternoon. Cooper?
COOPER:	Yeah a bit. It’s a bit early innit, when you first land here, mate. But if you want to start sorting yourself out, this is the right place to come, mate. You’ve got a lot of support, you’ve seen by the cheer you got off the community. We’re behind you all a hundred percent, mate. You know, if you’re ever stuck this is what it’s about mate.. We all speak together. Good luck, mate. All right?
(MORE CHEERING AND CLAPPING.)

In one scene a prisoner had climbed up on the roof to protest against the prison authorities. The prisoner actor did not actually climb on the roof, but shouted from an upper window to those below in a prison yard, as this gave the same distance and acoustic. However many other prisoners watching were highly entertained, and provided some good background jeering and cheering for the recording.

Later I was invited to produce another radio soap opera at another prison.

Prison Radio Soap Opera 2: Rye Hill Prison

Gerry Ryan was one of my most gifted students when I was teaching Creative Studies at Bath Spa University. She writes:

“Radio drama was a whole new area for me and I immediately fell in love with the power and possibility of the form. Not least from Shaun’s passion and wonderful teaching. After graduating someone said they’d found the ideal job for me which was a writer in residence in prisons. In preparing for my interview, I came across Mary Stephenson and read about her work using radio in prisons and knew this was exactly what I wanted to do.

“In 2005 I started as the writer in residence at HMP Rye Hill and got involved in their fledgling radio station and got back in touch with Shaun and we got together and hatched a plan to produce the first ever prison radio soap opera.

“I got funding from the Arts Council and we began work in 2006. Prisoners got involved in everything from writing to performing to post-production and some even had a go at directing. We got staff involved in performing and invited students from the Bristol Old Vic, (where Shaun was producing Radio Shakespeare), to take on female roles which added a fantastic link to the outside world as well as learning on both sides of the wall. Thanks to the power of radio (and some great editing work) we were also able to include vulnerable prisoners, normally segregated from the mainstream population. As well as the freedom it gave prisoners from their surroundings, it gave them a powerful opportunity to learn to collaborate in a positive way as a team towards a common cause, to overcome all sorts of barriers and to work as equals with staff and outside visitors. It was truly a life-changing experience for many of the participants.”

Gerry continued: “I also got some funding to run a project joining up community radio with the local Young Offenders’ Institution to produce a series of radio programmes to share the lives and creative talents of the young men held behind the walls with the locals.

“In 2008, I took on another writing residency in a high security prison where access to radio as a platform was nigh on impossible. However, I was allowed to purchase a voice recorder for use with prisoners and we managed to get some editing software and the ability to transfer to CD which created a good second option for producing audio drama. And the basic simplicity of what was needed shows another reason why audio is such a great medium to work with in prisons. We spent hours creating drama and documentaries; everything from using improvised drama to explore storylines drawn from participants’ lives to telling the story of the drug rehabilitation unit, incorporating poetry, music, and rap. One of the most moving uses of audio was for dads in prison to create and record a song or poem or story for their children which we would record onto CD and send out along with a picture book designed by the dads and produced by me using a print on demand service online.”

For the Soap Opera, Gerry Ryan, with the support of the Writers in Prison Network and Global Solutions Ltd, applied successfully to the Arts Council for a grant.

This was to help the prisoners to write, perform and post produce the first eleven episodes of what it is hoped will become, a continuing and self sustaining Radio Soap Opera at HMP Rye Hill.

A judge from the Arthur Koestler Awards Scheme reported on the first episode as follows:

We were so impressed by this entry. Group writing is tricky, and yet this group had clearly worked brilliantly together to produce a piece of writing that was funny, moving, exciting and interesting. We particularly appreciated the deep thought that must have gone into the cast of characters to put into the series. They are spot on and provide fertile ground for stories in future episodes. Starting the episode with the arrival of a new prisoner is an inspired device, as it allows the audience to discover the new world of prison through this sympathetic character. Giving stories to the prison officers as well as the inmates is great too, as it gives you double the stories and a wealth of different perspectives.

In future episodes we hope that prisoners will also include storylines not only on families, but also on the effects of their crimes on their victims. Here is the first five minute episode:

GUITAR MUSIC AND SONG: “I NEVER FELT MORE LIKE SINGING THE BLUES, COZ I’M IN THE NICK…” AND FADE UNDER:
ANNOUNCER:	Captive Radio presents “Conscripts”, a Radio Soap Opera, written and performed by the prisoners and staff of HMP Rye Hill.
	BRING UP GUITAR AND CROSSFADE INTO JEWELLERY BOX MUSIC:
SCENE 1. INT. JULIET WING:
FEMALE OFFICER:	( soft and ingratiating) Welcome to HMP Uppendown, Juliet wing. We hope you had a comfortable Journey. If there is anything you need, do call me.
	DISTORT MUSIC BOX AND FADE
OFFICER:	(roar, overpowering) Right you, you little shit. Another innocent one for Uppendown eh? Get your gear and follow me. One word out of you, and we’ll put you on Kilo wing. That’s also known as Kosovo wing. You don’t want to end up there.
PRISONER:	( small and weak) Can I make a phone call?
OFFICER:	(roaring) A phone call? No chance! You won’t last five minutes here with that attitude, son. This lot will eat you alive if they heard you talk like that. RATTLING OF KEYS, HEAVY CELL DOOR Now dry your eyes mate and get in there.
TODGER:	Hello my name’s Todger – I’ve been here so long, people think I’m a ghost – I’m on my way up to reception for a cup of tea. Sometimes they have cakes. Todger likes cakes. I wonder who’s coming in.
SCENE 2. EXT. RECEPTION YARD
	SWEATBOX ARRIVES, DOG BARKING
ESCORT:	Right Mr. Brown, let’s go, it’s getting late. Mind your step – don’t want you falling down before we get you inside, do we?
JASON:	(STEPPING DOWN) Can I phone my mum? DOG GROWLS
ESCORT:	(sharp) Come on Brown, time to go in.
DOG HANDLER:	Keep away from the dog
JASON:	Keep it away from me
DOG HANDLER:	Don’t even look at it.
ESCORT:	(laughing) Yeah, he’ll have your throat out that one. DOG HANDLER JOINS IN LAUGHING This way, come on.
SCENE 3. INT. RECEPTION
RECEPTION DOOR OPENING AND ESCORT WITH JASON ENTERING
R/OFFICER:	Thanks you can take his cuffs off. Step up to the line in front of the desk!
JASON:	Please can I phone my mum? SOUND OF HANDCUFFS BEING REMOVED
R/OFFICER:	Right your Prison number is BL69570! Now repeat it back to me with your name first!
JASON:	Brown BL6… (whispers) I’ve forgotten it
R/OFFICER:	(hard raised voice) BL69570
JASON:	Can I phone…
R/OFFICER:	(menacing) Behind the curtain and strip
TODGER:	You’ve got to watch who you mix with here. Take that poor bloke Ellis, he’s getting involved with the wrong people.
SCENE 4. INT. JON’S PAD	It’s a confidence building thing.. Some people who haven’t got confidence to go out and perform in the morning meeting…
	KNOCK ON DOOR
ELLIS:	Hey Jon, got a minute?
JON:	Hello Ellis, you better have some burn if you want something from me.
ELLIS:	I wanted to have a chat er, I might be able to help you.
JON:	How do you think you can help me?
ELLIS:	Well, I was hoping we might be able to help each other,
JON:	Are you making a pass at me Ellis?
ELLIS:	No! No way Jon I… I got a situation.
JON:	A situation, eh?
ELLIS:	Someone is beating up on me. Trying to make me do things…
JON:	Wow!
ELLIS:	No Jon it’s not like that. He wants me to get some stuff in for him.
JON:	(serious) Well that’s easy Ellis you just send him to me, I get everything you or anybody else needs, if it comes in it comes through me. No need to get complicated.
ELLIS:	I think it already is, I’m in big trouble, Jon.
JON:	Ellis, let’s start this again; let’s start with who’s giving you grief.
ELLIS:	I can’t say.
JON:	I didn’t hear you, speak up.
ELLIS:	You know I can’t say Jon; I’m not a grass.
JON:	So what are you doing here then? You tell me someone is treading on my toes and then refuse to tell me who it is, get out of my pad…
ELLIS:	But Jon I need help, please I can’t cope with this, it’s scaring the shit out of me.
JON:	You should have thought of that before you decided to keep secrets from me, Ellis.
TODGER:	I wonder how that new bloke they brought in is getting on. What’s his name, Jason?
SCENE 5. INT. RECEPTION
INMATE:	Hey kid! New here are yer? You look great in prison gear. Bet yer underpants have got somebody’s skid marks in them? Ha, ha.
JASON:	Why couldn’t I put my own stuff on?
	RECEPTION OFFICERS LAUGHING
R/OFFICER 1:	Ha, ha, we’ve got a right comedian here. (changes to nasty tone) It’s prison issue or nothing – your choice. And you there, just shut up!
INMATE:	Oi! How long have I got to sit here?
R/OFFICER 2:	Be quiet and sit down! I’ll deal with you as and when.
INMATE:	No, no ,no, you can deal with me now!
JASON:	Can I use the phone now?
R/OFFICER 3:	Stand back at the line and wait! We’re busy. (calls) Hey, Norm! That kettle boiled yet? (FADE)
TODGER:	You know, there’s always a power struggle. Looks like there’s trouble brewing on Juliet Wing.
SCENE 6. INT. JULIET WING. ASSOCIATION
JON:	All right mate new here are you? Well I’m Jon, anything you need you come to me. All right?
GEORGE:	Like what? Money? Women?
JON:	All you need to know is: I run the wing. Nothing and no one comes in or goes out without me knowing about it, all right. So what’s your name?
GEORGE:	Sorry – are you still talking to me?
JON:	Foreign, are you? (as if he’d talking to a deaf idiot) I – said -what’s – your name?
GEORGE:	Listen, mate. Just walk away. Okay?
JON:	If you want a quiet life…
(PAUSE)
JON:	All right. You want to play games? We’ll play games. Let’s see how well you get on here on the wrong side of me.
GEORGE	(departing with a laugh) Okay mate.
JON:	Oi! Don’t walk away from me.
	CLOSING MUSIC AND END OF EPISODE

CDs of the first 11 episodes were sent to 150 prisons around the country to broadcast on their radio stations.

Using what you have learnt from this webpage about prisoners, think of how many other people you might help: and at the same time teach others English, while improving your own. What about helping those with PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder), refugees, the homeless or those suffering from illness or bereavement, by getting them to tell their stories and making a programme with you

Storytelling can be healing.