Writing Within Walls Mentoring Programme

Our mentoring programme inspires prisoners and ex-offenders
to build their confidence and gain access into the publishing industry.

Writing Within Walls so far, we have...

  • Published 40 authors as part of our two Writing Within Walls collections
  • Employed 6+ mentors with lived experience of custody
  • Matched up mentees with literary agencies, publishers and experienced authors across the UK to introduce them to the publishing industry
  • Expanded our network to prisons in England and Scotland
  • Ran two National Writing Competitions for people with experience of custody (prisoners, former offenders and those on probation)

 

Our mentoring programme tackles the widespread disadvantages that can hinder rehabilitation by championing aspiring writers in prison and providing employment to people with experience of custody.

 

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Did you know...

Writing Within Walls Infographic

 

Prison. It is a word that conjures up loss, bleakness and despair.

But behind this are human stories and hope.

Our mentoring programme is designed to amplify these human stories and voices, with the aim of laying the foundations for rehabilitation and addressing challenges specific to prisoners. The purpose of this programme is multifaceted: it provides mentees with insight into the publishing industry, helps participants develop transferable skills for future employment, and offers invaluable mental health benefits by providing a creative outlet. Over the course of six months, mentees communicate by letter with a professional mentor to refine and develop their literacy skills. They will also have the opportunity to publish their work through our publishing branch, Arkbound.

How to participate

 

Any current or former prisoner is able to participate with our Writing Within Walls programme. This also applies to those who are in, or formerly in, Young Offender Institutes, Immigration Removal Centres and Secure Hospitals.

How does the mentoring program work for those in custody?

Step 1 - Prisoners send us a sample of their work through the post.

Step 2 - We send them an application to get a sense of their skill level and area of interest within creative writing. We then pair them with a mentor with similar interests who we feel can best support them.

Step 3 - The prisoners  will send us a letter, including a writing sample, once a month, which we will forward to their mentor. Once the mentor has provided us with feedback and support, this will be sent by us back to the prisoner.

The program duration is for approximately 6 months, during which six exchanges via post will occur between mentee and mentor. Both the mentee's and mentor's names are anonymised for safety, to avoid prejudice, and so both parties can focus on nurturing a professional relationship with a focus on improving the prisoners' writing skills.

If you know anyone who is currently in prison and might be interested in being mentored, be sure to let them know! Prisoners should make sure to include their Prisoner ID number and a return address. Please send any email enquiries to bridget@arkbound.com. Correspondence by post can be sent to our offices in Glasgow at the following address:

Arkbound Foundation
Rogart Street Campus,
4 Rogart St. Bridgerton,
Glasgow G40 2AA

What's on the horizon?
Writing Within Walls: Youth Expansion

Empowering young people in and beyond custody through mentorship, creative writing and books that support confidence, ownership and positive futures for those most at risk.

Our Writing Within Walls programme will soon expand to support young people most at risk of being overlooked. This includes those in custody, recently released, or caught in cycles of deprivation and trauma. It does not just intervene, it empowers.

Through one-to-one mentorships and group workshops, young people are supported to express themselves creatively, reflect on their experiences and build pathways toward education while reclaiming narratives that are often shaped without them. Delivered by trained mentors with lived and professional experience, the programme creates a safe, person-centred space for reflection, ownership and positive futures.

Participants will also have the opportunity to contribute to a youth-authored anthology which will be distributed across Scotland. Alongside developing their own writing, they engage with realistic YA novels written by community changemakers. These books reflect the realities of marginalised youth and explore incarceration, the care system and antisocial behaviour. The authors bring lived and professional experience and act as mentors within the programme.

Together, the anthologies and novels act as powerful engagement tools in schools, prisons and YOIs. They help individuals feel understood while informing the wider public about the realities of young offenders, moving conversations beyond punishment toward supportive, informed responses. By shifting perceptions at scale, they support systemic change and help communities become more compassionate and inclusive, advancing Scotland’s vision of a just society that puts youth rights and wellbeing first.

We are now seeking support to expand our Writing Within Walls programme to young people aged 14 to 25. This new branch builds on our long-standing success delivering writing mentorships in prisons since 2017. The youth strand will provide:

  • one-to-one mentoring within custody (YOI-approved, letter-based)

  • group workshops in the community for those at risk of re-offending

  • opportunities to contribute to a youth-authored anthology

  • engagement with Arkbound-published YA novels written by 'community changemakers'

Funding will expand delivery across Scotland, strengthen partnerships, and ensure that young people most at risk are given the chance to be heard, break cycles of harm, and access new opportunities.

Stay tuned for details as we apply for funding opportunities and bring this programme to life! 

Looking back: National Creative Writing Competition 2022

As part of the Writing Within Walls program, we ran a creative writing competition for prisoners and ex-prisoners. Anyone with a passion for writing and experience of custody was eligible. This could include time spent in prison, IRCs (Immigration Removal Centres), young offenders’ institutions, or secure hospitals.

The top three candidates received a cash prize of £25, and the 17 runners-up received £10 each. All top 20 entries are published in 'Enduring Words: A Collection of Creative Work by Prisoners'.

The winners were selected by a panel of three judges, each with a creative writing background or extensive experience working with prisoners in an educational capacity.

We may run another competition in the future, so keep an eye out!

Get involved

Are you interested in becoming a volunteer or do you work with an organisation that would be interested in sharing the programme with your network? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Get in touch with us by sending an email to the Writing Within Walls project coordinator, Val, at waltraud@arkfound.org.

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We are grateful for previous support of the Old Possum's Practical Trust, Matrix Causes Fund, The Forward Trust, WEA and other generous patrons who helped us deliver WWW in the past. We welcome other funding and donations to keep the project going.