{"id":461377,"date":"2026-02-06T03:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T03:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/461377\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T03:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T03:04:16","slug":"beyond-the-songs-inside-after-the-applause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/461377\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Songs Inside: After the applause"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Creative prison programs are celebrated for their ability to heal and transform incarcerated people.<\/p>\n

But are they enough to break the cycle?<\/p>\n

This story includes conversations about abuse, trauma and drug use, which could be triggering for some readers.<\/p>\n

It’s a sunny day and members of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO) are dressed in the requisite head-to-toe black, fiddling with their instruments and looking over their sheet music as they prepare to perform.<\/p>\n

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The gathered crowd isn’t really there to see them \u2014 eight women with ukuleles who follow them on stage are the stars of the show.<\/p>\n

These women also happen to be incarcerated in the Adelaide Women’s Prison (AWP).<\/p>\n

“All the songs you’ll hear today were penned inside these walls,” declares their mentor, Barkindji woman and singer-songwriter Nancy Bates.<\/p>\n

“Through the laughter and the tears, we have dived deeply, searching for melodies and words, making light in the darkness of prison.”<\/p>\n

The audience comprises corrections staff, inmates and their loved ones.<\/p>\n

Some of them are openly weeping.<\/p>\n

\"Three Audience members laughed and cried throughout the performance.(ABC\/Songs Inside Pty Ltd)\"A Along with AWP inmates and staff, the Songbirds’ (the name given to the program’s participants) family members were invited to attend the concert.(ABC\/Songs Inside Pty Ltd)<\/p>\n

As the sound of the orchestra swells behind them, the first woman begins singing.<\/p>\n

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This performance is believed to be the biggest ever held in an Australian jail.<\/p>\n

It’s the culmination of the Songbirds music program, which saw 12 inmates turn some of their darkest experiences into music under Bates’s direction.<\/p>\n

It’s also the subject of the award-winning Songs Inside documentary \u2014 written, directed and produced by Shalom Almond.<\/p>\n

The project is more than just a film for Almond, who has worked with fellow producers Katrina Lucas and Lauren Drewery to challenge negative perceptions of incarcerated women and advocate for systemic change.<\/p>\n

Since Songs Inside’s 2024 debut, they have screened the film more than 60 times in communities and prisons across Australia. A few Songbirds (the name given to the program’s participants) are selected out of a group of five to speak at each event.<\/p>\n

Erin and Fabiann, who were both released from jail during or shortly after the program, are two of them.<\/p>\n

\"Fabiann Fabiann was one of eight Songbirds (out of the original 12 that started the program) who performed with the ASO.(Supplied: Kelly Champion)\"A While Erin left the Songbirds music program early because she was released from prison, she’s still involved with the Songs Inside project. \u00a0(ABC\/Songs Inside Pty Ltd)<\/p>\n

In many ways, the experience has changed their lives.<\/p>\n

Over a four-and-a-half-month period in 2023, the pair gathered with their fellow Songbirds at least twice a week in the depths of AWP’s medium-security unit.<\/p>\n

For two hours, prison life faded as Bates taught them how to read sheet music and play chords on their ukuleles, before they practised the songs they’d written about love and their fears and pain.<\/p>\n

A correctional officer would watch over them along with Almond, who was joined by a second camera person.<\/p>\n

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“If you look at the women who have been part of this journey from the premiere to now, the growth and self-discovery we’ve all experienced speaks volumes,” says Erin.<\/p>\n

“We’ve reconnected with ourselves, rediscovered our strengths and embraced our potential.”<\/p>\n

Fabiann feels like Songs Inside has shone a light on the reasons “people aren’t getting any better, what is happening in jail [and] what people are coming out to” \u2014 from addiction, to trauma, to unemployment and housing insecurity.<\/p>\n

But neither the music program, the film about it, a subsequent advocacy project, nor support from the Songs Inside team, could entirely shield the participants from the reality of re-entering the outside world.<\/p>\n

About two years on from their release from AWP, Erin and Fabiann are still trying to rebuild their lives. The experts say this is a common reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Things had been going well for Fabiann in the program, but when she left prison in October 2023, she felt alone.<\/p>\n

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“When I was incarcerated, I lost everything,” she says. “My whole life was put out on the side of the road and I didn’t have any connections with my family.”<\/p>\n

“I got out with nothing but the clothes on my back.”<\/p>\n

The reality of life beyond prison makes her feel something akin to guilt when she tells inmates at screenings that they too can turn their lives around.<\/p>\n

The challenges weren’t unexpected for Almond, who stayed in contact with Fabiann beyond prison, driving her five hours back to her hometown and helping her set up a life outside AWP.<\/p>\n

Fabiann is now living in her own house, and has been working a part-time job alongside studying to become a social worker, while also touring the country for Songs Inside screenings. She doesn’t think she would be where she is today without the support of the team behind the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Several Aerial view of Adelaide Women’s Prison in Songs Inside.(ABC\/Songs Inside Pty Ltd)<\/p>\n

“The fact they can release people out in the street to nothing and then wonder why they’re back there in a week is beyond me \u2026 what chance did they have?”<\/p>\n

Erin’s mid-program exit from AWP \u2014 with a sleeping bag in lieu of a place to live \u2014 was different to Fabiann’s in that it was caught on camera.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bates had made a commitment to continue the music program with Erin post-release, and Almond filmed what was meant to be their second meet-up.<\/p>\n

Struggling with homelessness, Erin didn’t appear that day, leading to one of the film’s most searing moments.<\/p>\n

“It was probably a big call to expect her to arrive today and step back into the program with me,” Bates reflects to camera.<\/p>\n

Erin describes life since her release from AWP as a “constant battle” she “wasn’t fully prepared for”.<\/p>\n

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“I’d love to see more programs like [Songbirds] in prisons,” she says. “But I think it’s just as important to have more support for when people get out.<\/p>\n

“That’s when it really hits you \u2014 trying to rebuild from nothing, trying to find your place again. Having things like housing, work opportunities, mental health support \u2026 those things matter.<\/p>\n

“If even a fraction of the money spent on locking someone up for a year went instead into real rehabilitation and proper transition support, that revolving door wouldn\u2019t be spinning the way it does.”<\/p>\n

A few weeks after her release from prison, Erin found temporary housing with Almond’s help and made her way back to the group.<\/p>\n

But having only secured a transitional housing contract, she faced the very real possibility of ending up right where she started.<\/p>\n

“I want to move forward. I want the last two years of effort to mean something. I want a chance to live outside the cycle \u2014 not just survive, but actually build a life,” Erin says.<\/p>\n

“And yet, without secure housing it feels like the system is stacked against me.”<\/p>\n

Songs Inside is Almond’s second documentary in the prison space.<\/p>\n

It came after 2017’s Prisoners and Pups<\/a>, which drove her to create a film that offered a deeper look at the issues incarcerated women face both inside and coming back out into the community.<\/p>\n

\"A Prisoners and Pups was also filmed inside AWP, in 2015, and followed inmates as they trained former racing greyhounds for adoption.(Supplied: Kelly Champion)<\/p>\n

A little over a year on from its release, Almond thinks Songs Inside’s ability to shine a light on the struggles of incarcerated women without “ramming them down” audiences’ throats is one of its greatest strengths.<\/p>\n

But she’s realistic about the limitations.<\/p>\n

\"A Almond says she hopes the “kinds of eyeballs we’ve been able to get in front of the film … are going to be able to make real change”.(Supplied: Kelly Champion)\"Nancy, Almond, right, filming Bates, left, appears in Songs Inside only as a disembodied voice.\u00a0(Supplied: Kelly Champion)<\/p>\n

“Nancy [Bates] has this incredibly special way of engaging the women, drawing them into her world and creating an emotionally safe space for them to be able to open up,” Almond says.<\/p>\n

“Music programs 100 per cent have their place in prison, but the issues around addiction, trauma, lack of housing, all the very complex challenges women face when they get out … music is definitely not strong enough to overcome any of that.”<\/p>\n

Songs Inside was released at a time when the number of adult women incarcerated in Australia had increased by almost a third<\/a> over the preceding decade.<\/p>\n

The number of women being sent to prison continues to rise<\/a>, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women disproportionately represented in the prison system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then there are the reoffending (recidivism) rates.<\/p>\n

In Australia,\u00a0 53.6 per cent of adults released from prison return<\/a> to corrective services with a new correctional sanction (prison sentence or a community corrections order) within two years. In South Australia, that figure is 36.8 per cent.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for SA’s Department for Correctional Services said the state has a range of programs that provide “community-based accommodation and reintegration support”, which provide “clear pathways to stability” and deliver lower recidivism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr Mindy Sotiri, executive director of the Justice Reform Initiative (JRI), says films like Songs Inside help both “people inside by giving a voice to stories that are often hidden” as well as those of us outside, “who haven’t really understood” why people end up there.<\/p>\n

But she also thinks there’s a tension between telling stories such as Erin and Fabiann’s and deepening public understanding.<\/p>\n

Stream Songs Inside on ABC iview<\/a><\/p>\n

A group of incarcerated women sign up for a unique songwriting program, which for some opens up deep scars and for others proves to be life-changing.<\/p>\n

“Any public storytelling that any of us do then exists forever, and ultimately the power needs to be held by the people who have the stories to tell,” she considers.<\/p>\n

Fabiann and Erin say they have no regrets about sharing their stories for the world to see.<\/p>\n

A 2017 documentary made about Bell Shakespeare’s Youth Justice Program took a different approach to sharing the stories of its participants.<\/p>\n

The film, Kings of Baxter, followed a group of juvenile inmates as they worked together over 12 weeks to stage Macbeth.<\/p>\n

Joanna Erskine, who oversees the initiative, says the team knew very little identifying information about the young people they worked with. And in the film, none of the participants’ faces were shown in their entirety to maintain their anonymity.<\/p>\n

The program sees the young people use Shakespeare’s works as a tool for critical and creative thinking that can help them explore their experiences without directly talking about themselves.<\/p>\n

“A couple of weeks ago \u2026 one of the young women was picking up on the regret Macbeth has for his actions and she said, ‘That’s how I feel about being here’. That wasn’t something we asked her to do,” Erskine says.<\/p>\n

\"Barbed Barbed wire fence at Adelaide Women’s Prison in Songs Inside.(ABC\/Songs Inside Pty Ltd)<\/p>\n

“Because of Shakespeare’s perceived difficulty, once they get it, it unlocks something in them and they’re like: ‘What else can I do?'”<\/p>\n

Since her team knows little more than the first names of the young people they work with, Erskine says they are unable to track reoffending rates.<\/p>\n

“But what we are able to measure is the skills developed,” she says.<\/p>\n

“We know, for example, they are more confident doing a job interview \u2026 or they carry themselves in a different way because they feel pride in what they’ve achieved.”<\/p>\n

Dr Sotiri says she isn’t aware of any data on reoffending rates for people who have taken part in creative prison programs in Australia.<\/p>\n

“That’s not a thing that’s commonly measured in Australia,” she explains.<\/p>\n

“But there’s quite a lot of research<\/a> that says if you create an identity and social connections outside of the justice system, you are much less likely to go back to prison.”<\/p>\n

And yet, Flinders University criminology lecturer Jeremy Ryder says creative prison programs are not only rare, but “really vulnerable to being cancelled”.<\/p>\n

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“Often in prison, the courses that you do are focused on criminogenic risks and needs like alcohol and drugs, managing your emotions and propensity for violence.”<\/p>\n

While Dr Ryder thinks these programs have their place, he says they can reinforce the idea that inmates are “defective” human beings.<\/p>\n

Creative programs, on the other hand, “are grounded in building up confidence, strength, reintegrating that person into a group and giving them skills”.<\/p>\n

Combined with other supports, he says they allow incarcerated people to “create an identity that overpowers their former identities \u2026 providing a pathway from prisoner back to citizen”.<\/p>\n

However everyone, from the Songbirds to the experts, are in agreement: creative programs can only do so much.<\/p>\n

“Someone in prison might have got an enormous amount from participation in a creative program, but the emptiness of what is available for people when they’re released can feel even more shocking in a way,” Dr Sotiri continues.<\/p>\n

“And that’s a failure of a number of systems.”<\/p>\n

To reduce reoffending rates, Dr Sotiri says at-risk people need to be better supported in the community to avoid incarceration, and those who do end up in prison, need the underlying reasons addressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr Ryder puts it bluntly.<\/p>\n

\"A Ukulele strumming in Songs Inside.(ABC\/Songs Inside Pty Ltd)<\/p>\n

“People want the ‘art saved’ [all] story, and it can happen, but it’s got to happen in conjunction with other things,” he says.<\/p>\n

“A ukulele can only get you so far when you don’t have a job, and insecure housing.”<\/p>\n

The Songbirds music program is expected to return to AWP this year, and Almond wants to resume screening Songs Inside in schools, “as an educational tool and as a deterrent”.<\/p>\n

Erin knows the Songbirds and the Songs Inside team don’t have the power to make the changes they’d like to see on their own.<\/p>\n

“If it was as simple as five women standing on stage sharing their stories to make systemic change, it would have been done by now,” she says.<\/p>\n

“But hopefully we can open the … minds of those that can.”<\/p>\n

For now, Erin and Fabiann hope to continue using their lived experience to help others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The former is studying for a certificate in women’s advocacy, while the latter is due to complete her social work studies early this year, and hopes to set up a peer support program for inmates.<\/p>\n

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“They feel more comfortable speaking to us than they do counsellors or other people,” Fabiann says.<\/p>\n

“To sit across from them and know exactly the pain they’re sitting in and empower them to believe that coming back is possible, because the person sitting across from them has done it,\u00a0it’s living proof that with the right consistency, community and supports, they can do it too.”<\/p>\n

Watch the Songs Inside documentary<\/a> free on ABC iview.<\/p>\n

Victims of crime may be linked to some of the article’s participants. This story does not seek to negate the experience of victims, nor condone criminal activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Loading… Creative prison programs are celebrated for their ability to heal and transform incarcerated people. But are they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[236943,64,63,134,236946,236944,236947,236942,236948,236945,236941,236939,236940],"class_list":["post-461377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-adelaide-symphony-orchestra","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-jeremy-ryder","tag-justice-reform-initiative","tag-life-after-prison","tag-nancy-bates","tag-prison-documentary","tag-prison-reform","tag-shalom-almond","tag-songs-inside","tag-songs-inside-documentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}