News and Events

This site is designed to provide background information on prison education in Dublin prisons as well as news and events of particular interest to teachers in Prison Education Centres. The site also contains samples of work by prisoners who attend the Education Centres in Dublin prisons. Art exhibitions, drama productions, music performances and publication of writings provide the students with the opportunity to have their work seen and heard by those outside the prison gates. We hope and expect that this site will provide a platform for their work to be viewed by a wider audience and extend this viewing beyond the lifespan of an exhibition or performance.

Except in the case of group projects, all works shown here are done so with the understanding that they are owned solely by the prisoner accredited and that the accredited prisoners have consented to them being used on this site. The images, poems and music samples are also copyrighted to this site and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission from the site owners, who in turn must get permission from the relevant accredited prisoner. Ownership of any work featured on the site remains that of the accredited prisoner.

Story Book Dads Project In Training Unit

Story Book Dads is a UK initiative created by various agencies working within the prisons and by prisoners themselves and some volunteers. Terry Waite is one of its Patrons. Their website address is - www.storybookdads.org.uk

The aims of Stories by Dads are:

• To enable parents to help with the development of their children's literacy skills.
• To enable students to gain useful skills (e.g. Literacy and computer skills).
• To help parents nurture and develop their parenting skills.
• To reduce stress and trauma experienced by the children of imprisoned parents.
• To help parents throughout to maintain meaningful contact with their children, thereby reducing reoffending and improving outcomes for parent and child.

In 2009, the Governor of the Training Unit approached the school to enquire about the feasibility of setting up a similar type project in the Unit. Teachers Bernie and Gerry took the pilot project on board with a project called Christmas Stories. The project format was revised in 2010 as a collaboration between the Fetac level 4 course ‘Caring For Children’ given by Florence and Mary and the Fetac Level 3 course ‘Video Expression’ given by Bernie and Gerry.
The main course of study for the Video Expression module covers cameras, lighting, sound and editing, with an introduction to film genres and TV formats. The course gives students a practical insight into the process of video production from pre–production to production to post production.
In the Caring For Children course, the parent, with some voice coaching by Florence, learns how to read a story to a child. When the reader is ready, the Video Expression Course production team set to work. The parent is videoed reading the story which is then edited and enhanced using digital software. A Quick Time movie file is made and finally a DVD is burned off. Then a personalised cover is created and the finished disc is given to the parent to give to the child.
The children’s story, Dirty Bertie by David Roberts was selected. It featured on The Late Late Toy Show as a popular book for children aged between four and six years of age. - Bernie Masterson

President Visits St. Patrick's

President Mary McAleese visited St. Patrick’s Institution on 22nd December 2010. The president toured the main prison building before spending some time in the school for students aged between 16 and 18. She met with each student briefly, shaking their hands. The boys enjoyed the experience, many being somewhat star struck! In the art room the President was presented with a framed painting of the Ha’penny Bridge that art student Conor had created especially for her.

Personally evaluating his work Conor says:

"At the start I started on the sky, painting side to side with a medium sized brush. After I got the sky done I started on the river and used a dark blue and made a wavy effect like a real river. After that I used a lot of different colours to do the reflection of the building in the river. I see a well done painting by a brilliant artist ha ha! There is a great contrast of colours in it; parts of it go from very dark to light which looks great. The painting took a week to complete. The hardest part was the bridge and some of the buildings. I felt like giving up because I was lazy. The sky was the fastest part to do. When it was finished I was delighted, it was enjoyable to know I painted it all myself." - Jane Kelleher

Cloverhill Literacy Workshop

A Literacy Workshop was held on Thursday October 21st, 2010. The aim of this day was to highlight the literacy support classes available in the school for the students.
The main aspect of the day was a talk by Rodney from Pathways, who shared his experience and encouraged the students to avail of literacy support if they need it.
On the day there was a chance to take part in numeracy exercises, word games and literacy interactive computer programmes.
The event was well attended and it is our intent to run other such literacy events.
- Áine Connoly, Caitriona McGrath and Catherine Byrne

Arbour Hill Mosaic Workshop

A successful mosaic workshop was conducted in Arbour Hill Prison by Eileen Singleton over the month of October 2010. Eileen facilitated a highly popular mosaic workshop exploring the use of mosaic finishes on both two dimensional and three dimensional surfaces.
The sessions introduced students to the concept of mosaic work and kicked off with the students examining mosaic work belonging to Eileen and other artists. Having studied various images and examples of mosaic work they then produced a series of simple mosaic drawings on paper and then transferred these to plywood. These wooden motifs then had pieces of ceramic tile applied to their surface using PVA glue. As the pictures began to form, one could see the realisation of the students that mosaic had tremendous potential for artistic and creative expression.
All that remained to be done was for the grout to be applied and the pieces framed. Since Eileens workshop, the mosaic class has gone from strength to strength and we hope to have Eileen back in the future to conduct an advanced workshop in three dimensional mosaic work. - Zachary Sex

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