Arts-in-Corrections: Beyond Traditional Rehabilitative Programming

• In Event: Roundtable: Incarceration Programs

Abstract

After an extended number of years without prison arts programming, in 2014, the California Arts Council received funding from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to reinstate Arts in Corrections (AIC) programs, offering inmates an alternative to traditional programming and education at twenty correctional facilities. Prior research and writing on AIC suggests a number of positive impacts that include a reduction in recidivism/institutional misconduct, among others. Our team has developed a framework that views AIC as influencing a number of domains, ranging from changes in the individual inmate and the prison environment to the family and community. We are in the midst of data collection consisting of focus groups with formerly incarcerated AIC participants, currently incarcerated AIC participants, and current AIC program staff. Drawing on the literature and focus groups, in the future, the project team also plans to investigate the ways in which AIC programming and traditional rehabilitative programming differ in their approach and impacts, from the individual inmate through the community level. To investigate the relative effectiveness for rehabilitation we plan to compare the theoretical models that underscore AIC and traditional programs and measure the outcomes associated with AIC compared to traditional programs.

Authors

• Emma Conner, University of California, Irvine

• Gabriela Gonzalez, University of California, Irvine

• Marina Bell, University of California, Irvine

• Laura Pecenco, San Diego Miramar College