27 Feb 2025
I’m Jas, and have just joined IJP to develop a new film project in HMP Wandsworth aiming to understand the circumstances which can lead to a mental health crisis for people living or working in UK prisons. My background is in directing creative non-fiction films- films which use the creative arts to tell true stories in collaboration with the people at the heart of them.
My films tend to feature stories about people building community despite adverse conditions or difficult environments. Recently these include ‘MOTHER’, a dance-doc following a vogue house competing on Brazil’s underground ballroom scene against the background of a country-wide rise in homophobia and transphobia. ‘GUARDIANS’ a co-produced campaign film following a youth-led group of activists fighting for rights for unaccompanied minors arriving in the UK. And ‘HOLD ME’ a creative documentary which visualised the imaginative worlds of three children growing up inside a Bolivian prison. Through working on these films I have developed a practice for filmmaking which prioritises building trust, enables the storytellers to feel seen and heard, and which creates the space for reflection during the production process.
Alongside film, I often work projects with groups to promote wellbeing through the process of co-producing art-work. There is a power in collaborative creative work where people have the time and space to be with each other, and work with each other, and to enjoy the act of making something for the sake of making it. I’ve found this work fun, and important for boosting confidence in groups, often with who are facing difficult external situations outside the project.
In the past I have run several creative projects with groups connected to the criminal justice system, and from both my professional and personal experience I’ve seen how prison environments can supercharge mental health conditions for incarcerated people and their families. This can include individuals resorting to self-harm or self-neglect while inside prison, family members struggling with the added stress of navigating the prison and legal systems, people left with psychological trauma after their release, or the worst cases- people who die by suicide in prison. This is a situation which needs urgent action.
This is an important project, which I’m thankful to be a part of. It has the potential to start an honest conversation about what psychological distress inside prison looks like, and steps that can be taken to prevent mental health emergencies in the future, and I feel privileged to be working on it alongside the IJP team with their wealth of experience in this area.
