This review was commissioned by Arts Access Australia to examine evidence for the value of visual arts programs in Australian prisons and their impact on adult inmates. It considers current philosophies behind art programs, how they are implemented and how ‘success’ is measured, and includes an annotated bibliography of relevant literature.

This report aims to define what a prison art program is and to examine whether these programs are successful (and how ‘success’ is defined) as well as how they are organised. The research also aims to contribute knowledge to the question: Does Australia need a more unified national strategy for implementing art programs in prisons?

This report is a review of academic and other literature examining the impacts of art in prison programs. The research was undertaken on behalf of Arts Access Australia through UTS Shopfront Community Program - Visual arts programmes reviewed come from Australia, United States (USA) and New Zealand.

Arts Access Australia aimed to use this research to inform an advocacy campaign for further funding of art in prisons programs and, in a country where corrective services are run by state-territory jurisdictions, to consider a national approach to development.