Choral Singing in Prisons: Evidence-Based Activities to Support Returning Citizens

• DOI: 10.1177/0032885519861082
• Author: Mary L. Cohen
• Published date: 01 September 2019
• Date: 01 September 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

861082TPJXXX10.1177/0032885519861082The Prison JournalCohen
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Article
The Prison Journal
2019, Vol. 99(4S) 106S –117S
Choral Singing in
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Activities to Support
Returning Citizens
Mary L. Cohen1
Note: A video link is available for viewing the program highlights:
https://vimeo.com/169192145.
Abstract
Choral singing in prisons can help incarcerated individuals identify as returning
citizens instead of felons. Shadd Maruna argues that while many legal and
penal rituals exist to convince individuals to identify as “offenders,” few such
rituals are in place to reconnect formerly incarcerated people to identify
as community members outside of prisons. Maruna describes successful
reintegration rituals as symbolic and emotive, repetitive, community-based,
and infused with a dynamic of challenge and achievement; they give form to
political and social processes that enable successful reentry. I maintain that
choral singing models positive reintegration rituals that promote prosocial
connections between returning citizens and the societies to which they are
restored.
Keywords
choral singing, restorative justice, reintegration rituals, transformative
justice, desistance
1The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
Corresponding Author:
Mary L. Cohen, School of Music, The University of Iowa, 4300 VOX, 93 E. Burlington St.,
Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
Email: mary-cohen@uiowa.edu

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Cohen
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Introduction
Desistance theories seek to explain the behavioral processes of refraining
from crime and ceasing to offend. Some theorists understand desistance as a
developmental process (Bushway, Piquero, Broidy, Cauffman, & Mazerolle,
2001). However, McNeill (2009) emphasizes the social nature of such devel-
opment, arguing that the only way to understand desistance is “within the
context of human relationships” (p. 28). Much of the existing literature exam-
ines how and why desistance occurs and generally concludes that the key to
increasing desistance is developing “social capital,” that is, the resources
inherent in social relationships and networks (Field, 2008). “Bonding” and
“bridging” are two types of social capital that seem especially important for
successful reentry. Bonding is the social capital an individual derives from
relationships within and among homogeneous groups, whereas bridging is
the social capital that comes from relationships with people with whom the
individual’s previous connections were distant or altogether absent.
Generative activities such as choral singing can help incarcerated individuals
develop relational skills that give them access to the social capital they
require to persist in desistance.
To study social influences on desistance, Weaver and McNeill (2014)
examined the life stories of six men’s desistance experiences through the lens
of Donati’s (2011, 2014) relational theory. The men had been friends from the
time they initially committed crimes through their early stages in their desis-
tance processes. Weaver and McNeill concluded that to desist from criminal
behavior, individuals must connect with restorative social networks that fos-
ter dynamics of reciprocity and interdependence.
Maruna (2011) has argued that, at present, we need to do more to ritualize
positive reentry processes that help people who have served time in prisons
reintegrate into society successfully. This need is especially important given the
many rituals that prescribe and enforce an inmate’s sense of separation from
society. Among these rituals are the legal processes and enforcement rituals of
arrest, detention in jail, plea bargaining or courtroom trials, sentencing, and
incarceration (separation from society). Even language choices can become
ritualistic because they can affix labels to people who convey negative, neutral,
or positive images. Prison officials, criminologists, and journalists have used
the terms “offenders,” “ex-offenders,” “felons,” or “convicts” that convey dis-
tinctly negative images of citizens returning from prison. Different vocabulary
choices in naming citizens returning from prison suggest different responses to
the question of whether and to what extent one’s past actions need to live in the
present, and by extension, whether and to what extent a returning citizen must
continue to identify as separate from society.

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The Prison Journal 99(4S)
Affirming, positive rituals that support returning citizens in developing
humanistic and holistic identities seem to be rare in prisons and beyond
prison bars. The four components of successful reintegration rituals, accord-
ing to Maruna (2011), are that they are symbolic and emotive, can be repeated
as necessary, involve community, and emphasize challenge and achievement
over risk and acquisition. Choral singing in prisons, if facilitated effectively,
is a powerful way to implement these positive ritualistic experiences. My
own work with prison choirs illustrates that the texts or “word factor,” the
embodied experiences of singing or “somatic factor” (Cohen, 2007a), and the
musical aspects including melodies, harmonies, rhythms, form, and expres-
sive qualities within choral singing provide a space for symbolic interpreta-
tions and social and emotional connections. The primacy of mutual listening
and harmonious blend in choral practice and performance encourages singers
to develop bonds with one another, whereas the rituals of choral singing per-
formances facilitate the building of bridges between performers and their
audiences. If the prison choir includes free citizens together with prisoners,
the community-building practices of forging bridges with strangers can
evolve into the maintenance of bonds with other members of the choir.
Choral singing requires consistent practice to develop listening skills and
vocal techniques, to learn parts, and to perform musically. Weekly rehearsals
provide the essential ingredient of repetition with reoccurring physical and
communal warm-ups. Some choirs ritualize rehearsals with the singing of
anchoring songs to start and end practices. Seasonal rituals proceed at a
slower pace as a choir engages the long process of preparing for a concert,
performing, and reflecting on the accomplishments afterward. The choral
ensemble itself is a natural conduit for building community because it requires
active and attentive participation in a group project, combining individual
voices into one communal body. Through performances, choirs reach out to a
larger community with words and musical experiences, building bridges to
unknown others. Performances create opportunities for meaningful achieve-
ment. Elvera Voth, founder of the East Hill Singers based in the minimum
unit of the Lansing Correctional Facility in Kansas, frames this achievement
in terms of social feeling, asking, “Do you have any...