Evaluation of Dreaming Inside: Voices from Junee Correctional Centre Poetry Writing Program Part II – Outcome Evaluation Measuring Participant Benefits

Abstract

This report details the second component of the evaluation of the Dreaming Inside: Voices from Junee Correctional Centre program (Dreaming Inside program), an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prison poetry writing program conducted at Junee Correctional Centre (JCC), New South Wales. The first part of the evaluation focused on program processes, including articulating the aims and evaluating whether any processes could be improved. As detailed in the first report, at the time of the process evaluation there were approximately 842 inmates at the JCC on any given day, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inmates making up approximately 25% of the prison population. This is not unusual and, in fact, equates to the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in adult prisons across New South Wales, which according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, was 24% on 30 June 2018 (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018).