Prison Sounds and Prison Music: Sensory Punishments and Creative Releases

• In Event: Listening to Justice, Listening to Injustice

Abstract

Recent attention directed toward ‘sensory penalties’ (Herrity, Schmidt and Warr, 2021) and prison ‘acoustomologies’ (Russell and Carlton 2020) have highlighted the often-problematic nature of the sonic dimensions of prison environments. Hard reflective surfaces, loud reverberating and confusing sonic cues, and a limited sonic agency are just some of what constitute often invisible yet highly intrusive sonic harms. Yet sound, and in particular, music, can also offer some respite to incarcerated people. Whether this involves music listening through personal devices or portable sound equipment, or participation in music programs aimed at creative expression, the development of new skills, or rehabilitation, the sonic can also be a release. This presentation explores these contradictory expectations and experiences of sound in prison environments and fuses these in a sonic creative response aimed at pushing at the boundaries of sensory criminology.

Author

• Murray Lee, University of Sydney