The Pros and Cons Prison Music Pro­gram was ini­ti­at­ed as a response to the clo­sure of the agri­cul­tur­al pro­grams in Cana­di­an pris­ons, and from the out­set was run with the inten­tion of serv­ing a pop­u­la­tion that was not only lack­ing in resources, but was also being active­ly marginalized.

My expe­ri­ences have led me to under­stand many sen­si­tiv­i­ties of work­ing with con­victs, and the ways in which con­flict and politi­ciza­tion can be avoided.

I have also learned that it is of great advan­tage to cre­ate tools for inmates. Your work can have a mul­ti­pli­er effect by means of open source learn­ing, and the focus­ing of oth­er­wise neglect­ed ener­gies of those behind bars. (Let me dis­tin­guish that last sen­tence from the use of inmates for cap­i­tal gain, which is oth­er­wise known as slav­ery) We are inter­est­ed in humans build­ing skill and a knowl­edge base that can help them be more self-deter­mined, mak­ing choic­es of bet­ter ser­vice to them­selves and their soci­eties, inside and out­side of institutions.

The three videos shown hear dis­cuss three major aspects of build­ing mean­ing­ful pro­gram­ming in cor­rec­tion­al institutions:

Part One: Get­ting Inside

Part Two: The Music Process

Part Three: The Lega­cy Effect

For more music, inter­views , and con­tact information:

https://wolfeislandrecords.com/theprosandconsprogram/