Rideout first presented its innovative public engagement project at The Mander Centre in Wolverhampton. In September 2010 upwards of 1000 people visited the company's replica cell and took the opportunity to talk with a 'prisoner' about the experience of prison. Go To Jail was subsequently installed at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank, in an empty shop in Stoke-on-Trent and at Cheltenham Racecourse.

 

The project involves the construction of a replica cell according to current government guidelines complete with approved facilities. Inside the cell are one or two actors-in-role, previously prisoners themselves. Members of the public can call in to the cell, sit on the be and chat with the 'inmates'.

 

Outside the cell they are able to log their views on the sentences they believe should be served by our fictional characters and on the priveleges they should be allowed in their cell. At the end of each day during the installation, the contents of the cell are altered in order to reflect the majority opinion of visitors.

 

"Brilliant idea, brilliantly executed to provoke public thinking and conversations about prison, and what works, what doesn't, what's right, what's wrong. Very glad I found it amongst the shops." From the Visitors Book

 

For 2016 locations, go here: