Freedom within bars: maximum security prisoners’ negotiations of identity through rap

• In Event: Prisons Research beyond the Conventional

Abstract

This paper examines prisoner’s construction of identity through rap music in two maximum security establishments. In one of these prisons 40 per cent of its population are Muslim and 55 per cent are Black or mixed race. The managerial practices of these prisons focus almost exclusively on risk. Prisoners experience a severely constricted life in environments saturated with fear. Within this context, art and other growth related activities are regarded as pampering. Through a series of workshops this study investigates prisoner’s negotiations of their cultural and faith identities, prohibitions within Islam against music, opposition to injustices within the prison, and their projection of future selves beyond imprisonment through rap lyrics. The research analyses how, rap may be mobilised as a culturally sensitive means of engaging with offending behaviour, enabling prisoners to express themselves in a manner which is meaningful to themselves, and to build trusting relationships.

Author

• Richard Bramwell, Cambridge University