Artworks by offenders are going on display at the National Gallery. What is the future for such schemes?
From next week, famous national treasures like Caneletto's The Stonemason's Yard and Turner's The Fighting Temeraire will share the limelight with an exhibition of drawings, sculptures and paintings by men from Feltham Young Offenders Institution. It might seem an unlikely alliance, but it has proven to be an enriching experience, both for The National Gallery, and for these young artists.
Art education projects like this offer young people in juvenile prison an alternative to traditional academic and vocational qualifications, says Gill Jenkins, the course director for creative studies at Feltham. "The outcome of each project has always been amazing, and it offers these young men a new experience and valued teaching by professional artists," she says.
John Costi, 23, from north London, is a testament to the rehabilitative power of art. He was sent to Feltham at 18 for armed robbery and once there became involved in painting murals for the new healthcare wing. He is now enrolled on a degree course at Central Saint Martins. Of his involvement in arts education while in prison, he says: "If that had never happened, I doubt that I would be at Central Saint Martins today, and I doubt that I would be leading a law-abiding lifestyle. I would have come out and turned to all I knew, which was crime. That was really my saving grace."
But many are concerned that programmes like this face an uncertain future. Pat Jones, the director for the Prisoners' Education Trust, one of the leading charities providing education services to offenders, says: "There are quite a number of offenders whose key to rehabilitation is in the arts. However, because providers have to reach targets in literacy, numeracy and IT, there is a problem with arts slipping down the priority list in prison."
There has been speculation that the soon-to-be-published Offender Learning review will lead to more focus on skills for work, and Jones is worried. "My fear is that an even stronger focus on employability might mean arts fall further down the list of what's valued. When you have limited resources, what you'd like to do, and what you are able to do, can be very different things."
The Feltham project was funded for three years by LankellyChase Foundation and is due to end this year.
But lack of available funding and appreciation for arts-based learning are not the only threats to offender education. One of the issues many are hoping the review will address is a lack of continuity and consistency in services.
While on remand Costi was moved to three separate prisons and he says this is a relatively small number of moves: "I've had friends in places for two weeks at a time. If you get too comfortable, they'll ship you out." The result of these transitions is inmates fall behind in learning and fail to finish qualifications. Costi had to abandon a distance learning course in creative writing because he was moved from Feltham to Hollesley Bay prison and the details were lost in transit. He also found that his new facility had no art department.
Despite recent successes, juvenile reoffending rates remain extremely high and the truth is that young people who have been in prison often return, creating cycles that are difficult to break. Speaking from experience, Costi says: "I've met so many talented people in prison when it comes to the arts. With the right support they could turn their life around."
Tim Robertson, chief executive of the Koestler Trust, a prisons art charity that supports ex-offenders in the community, believes such projects also help to educate the wider community and "challenge social stereotypes".
"Visiting the gallery, the public can see that offenders are human beings who can grow and change. Rehabilitation into jobs, housing and communities can succeed only if society overcomes its stereotypes of offenders."
Inside Art at the National Gallery from 7 Feb