The Royal Festival Hall is hosting an exhibition with art by prisoners and ex-offenders, put together by the Koestler Trust.
The artworks have been created by prisoners, offenders on community service, patients in psychiatric units and immigration detainees. The Koestler Trust offers mentorship through art – chief exec Tim Robertson has pointed out that most crimes are committed by men, so to rehabilitate them it’s necessary to engage them in less masculine activities, like art. Writing for The Telegraph in 2014, he said “arts demand hard work, technical skill and collaboration, precisely the behaviours that offenders need in order to rehabilitate.”
Two in five people convicted of crimes re-offend within a year of being released, and this costs tax payers around £13 billion. The Koestler Trust estimates that for every £1 donated to the charity, £4.57 is invested back into society each year. Mentoring schemes like this one have been proven to decrease re-offending by half. This means rehabilitated ex-offenders can re-enter society and become employees.
Do you think mentoring schemes like this one are worthwhile? Would you donate to the Koestler Trust? Have your say in our forum – should prisoners be mentored?
The exhibition runs at the Royal Festival Hall till November 29th.
