A stylistic and thematic analysis of Zambian prison poetry: the case of Mwembeshi maximum security prison.

Abstract

Several studies have established inmates chronicle their lived experiences in the works of art they produce such as poetry. Studying artworks produced by inmates therefore provides critical information that can help inform policies, programmes, and activities for rehabilitation. The Zambia Correctional Service provided arts platform for inmates to write and perform poetry. However, there were neither known studies that took interest to study this poetry nor a deliberate policy by the service to use this poetry to appreciate the lived experiences of inmates especially that the service was transforming from custodial prison system to a correctional service. Using a mixed methods inquiry anchored on the stylistic, social constructionism and structuralism study analysed selected poems written by inmates from the Mwembeshi Maximum Correctional Facility. The analyses of these poems focused on their stylistic and thematic content and how these had a bearing on the Zambia Correctional Service. The study established that inmate poets used a wide range of stylistic content to bring out themes in a creative and appealing manner that gives a reader a vicarious experience of their lived experiences in the Zambia correctional facilities. The themes in the poems reflected the lived experiences of inmates in terms of the circumstances that led them to prison, the crimes they committed, what prison life had been like, their coping strategies and perception about the correctional activities as well as their fears and hopes for a post-prison future. Like studies that have been conducted elsewhere, this demonstrates that poetry in Zambia can be one of the most beneficial treatments in rehabilitation as it aids the understanding of the lived experiences of inmates. It can equip inmates, correctional officers, social workers, health care providers, educators and parents or guardians with tools of how they can create strategies of v helping inmates rehabilitate and how inmates can be integrated into society after release without a preconceived approach to the individual self that committed the crime.