Musicians Protest Prisons’ Guitar Ban

In a letter published in The Guardian, they have urged justice minister Chris Grayling to overturn the blanket ban on the instruments. They believe it undermines the important role music has to play in “engaging prisoners in the process of rehabilitation.”

The ban came in last November as part of the government’s changes to the incentive and earned privileges policy for prisoners, which also banned some prisoners from receiving books.

Steel-stringed guitars are out, although nylon strings are allowed for those who earn the privilege.

“As most guitars currently owned or used by inmates in our prisons are steel-strung acoustics, this ruling will mean that these instruments are kept under lock and key until time for a supervised session, if the prison in question has provision for musical tuition,” the musicians’ letter explains.

Bragg, who runs the nonprofit initiative Jail Guitar Doors, which provides musical instruments for prisons, says almost all of the 350-odd instruments the organization has given to prisons have been steel-strung guitars.

“I’ve seen the positive impact giving prisoners these guitars can have first hand, which is why I am involved in this issue,” he said. “Almost all the guitars currently in British prisons tend to be steel strung, so this effectively means they’ve all been removed as it’s just not possible to re-string them all with nylon. They aren’t designed for that.

“There’s never been to my knowledge an incident in a British prison where someone has been attacked with a steel string guitar.”