Quite often perceived as a dark, dank and lonely place, gaol is somewhere that many of us are thankful to never have had to visit.
However, Jordan Bryon and Julia Mendel from Off The Record Productions have set out to showcase the artful talents of inmates, with their works aiming to improve prisoner mental state and social skills upon the return to the ‘real’ world.
In the filming of a documentary illustrating the life of prisoners at the NSW Junee correctional centre, Jordan and Julia conceived the idea of an inmate-sustained prison magazine – a place to house artworks and stories from those on the inside.
Referring to the mental distance negotiated inside prison brought on by the institutionalised nature of gaol, Head Miles was deemed a fitting title for the soon-to-be-released publication.
“Head Miles is a project that involves a feature film, an exhibition and a magazine,” said Jordan.
“We are going to pilot an issue of a prison magazine, and with that pilot we want to engage in discussions with Corrective Services on how to make it an ongoing thing that is educational, rehabilitative and improves the mental health of inmates.
“It’s going to be a tricky process.”
Original artwork created by a Junee Gaol inmate. Image Credit: Off The Record Productioncs
While the magazine’s pilot is set for circulation in the early months of 2015, Bryon says that working with the inmates has been an emotional roller coaster in the two years of production to date.
“Throughout the making of the film, we had the idea of giving another platform for inmates to share themselves with the outside, and magazines seemed like a logical platform,” she said.
“Inmates can be really divisive. You either have absolute compassion for them, or you have absolute distain for them.
“When I was making this documentary I experienced both of those feelings.
“Sometimes I’m asking myself, ‘why do you deserve this? ‘Why should I help you?’… But I always come back to, they’re going to get out, and in what state do we want them to get out them out in?”
Striving to not only acknowledge, but to rally support for public diversity, the young change-makers are urging the rest of society to become more inclusive in their lines of thought.
“We kind of exclusively work with people on the margins, and for me that’s because I’m passionate about social diversity,” said Jordan.
“The way that the world is going we’re becoming an increasingly homogenous society … a lot of communities are being pushed out. They’re increasingly becoming out of view.
“When a diversity of people aren’t living with us, we become less inclusive in our thinking.”
Working alongside a mix of cultures in the prison, the producers are encouraging greater things for the inmates– and are doing so in conjunction with the ‘cultural centre’ located in the now-redundant gym at the Junee gaol.
More original inmate artwork. Image Credit: Off The Record Productioncs
“Jewish, Muslim, Polynesian, Australian Indigenous … It’s a place where inmates come to be who they are, without having to be a really, staunch kind of prisoner,” said Jordan.
“It is an example of how prison can use cultural engagement to rehabilitate inmates. Cultural activity is improving their outlook on life and their way of being in the world.
“It’s an incredible place, there’s nothing else like it in Australia, and it has genuinely transformative powers.”
“As well as going in and recording their stories, having an avenue for them to exhibit their art and their writing and produce for something,” said Julia.
“We were definitely influenced by the stuff happening at the cultural centre.”
Having received positive feedback from staff and inmate alike, Mendel says the pair will continue to challenge social stigmas until the publication becomes fully fledged.
“If we could make this an ongoing project, if it makes more prisons like Junee in their implementation of cultural and creative engagement, that would be amazing,” she said.
“It’s definitely rewarding, working with the guys there.
“I think at the end of the day, when we’re getting feedback from them, and things like that, you realise how much it is impacting.
“That in itself gives you the drive to keep on doing it, and to keep on pushing forward with the project.”
This article is part of the July Serial Issue: Fringe Media
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