Makeright—Bags of Connection: Teaching Design Thinking and Making in Prison to Help Build Empathic and Resilient Communities

Abstract

This paper argues that designers have a future role to play in redesigning prison systems. It describes the Makeright anti-theft bag action research project that first ran at HMP Thameside, London (UK) in 2015, and later at Sabarmati Central Jail, Ahmedabad (India) in 2016. It offers an account of the strengths and limitations of utilizing co-design methods to deliver transformational learning for prison inmates, and build resilience and entrepreneurship skills. Between 2015–17 we delivered seven iterations of the Makeright design course. A total of eighty-five UK inmates and twenty-five Indian inmates participated; we also performed twenty-six interviews with inmate participants, which we report on here. This article reflects on our practice, including our engagement with prison staff to iteratively improve our approach. We conclude that whilst inmates can strongly engage with design thinking and collaborative design practices—and benefit from the skills and competencies this fosters—for design education to be meaningful to their lives as returning citizens, opportunities for collaboration and learning through making need to continue beyond prison gates linked to resettlement programs. We suggest that prisons need to redesign their systems both inside prison walls and beyond to better connect inmates to reflexive relational networks that can facilitate social integration and, ultimately, abstinence from crime.