Prison – The Orbital

Trigger Warning: Self-harm, Suicide East London is home to a great many things: Olympic Park in Stratford, The Tower of London, Emirates Air Line Cable Car, a Board Game Café and the many quirky bars of Shoreditch. One ‘quirky’ bar is causing controversy with the theme it chose. ‘Alcotraz’ is a new prison-themed bar in East London based off of Alcatraz Prison and prison systems in general. The bar is only open for three months and the exorbitant entry fee of £30 guarantees an orange jumpsuit for the person to wear throughout the session, which lasts one hour and 45 minutes. At first glance, this may seem like a fun idea for a London night out with your friends. But it’s not. It is incredibly problematic and should make us all think of the endemic issues within the prison and judicial...

On Thursday the 6th of November, the Drama Society provided the opportunity to take part in a Poetry Workshop run by their chosen charity, Safe Ground. Safe Ground works to decrease the stigma faced by families of people in prison, and strives to promote a social change by connecting communities and rehabilitating the prisoners’ relationships with their families through the use of drama, dialogue and debate. The workshop took place at the South Bank University and was run by the writer and performance poet, Dean Atta. I found the workshop particularly engaging because I was familiar with his work. However, Atta made it clear that a keen interest in poetry was not required, as he successfully involved each participant in a captivating three-hour session. All the exercises were conduct...

Tag: Prison

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