About Liberty Choir UK
Liberty Choir entered Wandsworth prison on 1 April 2014 with 20 volunteers and has conducted a choir with 20 inmates every week pre-pandemic in the belief that singing can be part of the rehabilitative process. The benefits of the sessions are multiple: to the prisoners where tension has been visibly reduced, leading to a reduction in violent incidents, self-harm and suicide attempts; to the prison staff who remark on how much calmer the prisoners are after their sessions and therefore easier to manage. A Prison Officer said 'it is rehabilitative and can clearly change lives …. They learn discipline, routine and how to respect differences. It brings unity, networking, building confidence. Prisoners learn additional skills learnt by participating, such as interview skills, communication skills, eye contact, pro-social modelling, learning music, even public speaking. Upon release, Liberty Choir singers can join associated community choirs where the volunteers are drawn from. This provides them with familiar faces and a supportive network at a very challenging point in their lives. Liberty Choir is in touch with over 70 former prisoners who have not reoffended. Liberty Choir is an effective rehabilitation strategy saving the UK taxpayer over £2 million and rising since its inception. Since 2017 Liberty Choir has expanded into more prisons and since lockdown has developed Liberty Choir Radio broadcasting into 100 prisons. For more information please visit www.libertychoir.org
www.libertychoir.org
info@libertychoir.org
Liberty Choir UK Registered charity number 1173799
