Questions of Value: Taking Museums into a High Security Prison

This research was developed as part of an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award, between the University of Leeds and Leeds Museums and Galleries. The central area for investigation was to establish the value to be gained from providing prisoners in a high security prison access to museum objects and activities inspired by them. The project itself was delivered to a group of prisoners in HMP Wakefield in 2012 over a twelve-week period. The four-stage project provided opportunities for different forms of interaction with the museum objects and culminated in a final exhibition of work created by the prisoner participants during the project. Throughout the project the findings were positive. They offer strong support to the idea that high security prisons can be viewed as a community in their own right where positive relationships can be established and negative stereotypes broken down. When looked at collectively, the findings indicate that participation in the project made both an immediate and longer-term impact on the wellbeing of those who participated. In some cases this also linked to a reduction in the fears associated with feeling institutionalised.