Music and well-being in carceral settings: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

Well-being is defined as the multi-dimensional experience of positive emotions, as well as life satisfaction, autonomy, and purpose. This scoping review examines the impact of musical practices on the well-being of incarcerated individuals and uniquely contributes to the literature by focusing on the relationship between music and power in carceral settings and by expounding on the ways in which musical practices both facilitate and inhibit experiences of well-being. Our review contributes to this body of literature by proposing three distinct ways musical practices may affect well-being: (1) Musical Practices and Psychological Outcomes, (2) Musical Practices and Identity Formation and (3) Musical Practices and Power.

KEYWORDS:

• Music
• prisons
• incarceration
• well-being
• carceral settings

Introduction

We define well-being as the multi-dimensional experience of positive emotions and experiences of life satisfaction, autonomy, and purpose (Fancourt & Finn, 2019). The literature on well-being in carceral settings focuses on the amelioration of psychiatric symptomatology and examines interventions like medication trials, interpersonal psychotherapy programs, opiate substitution treatments, as well as access to educational programming and primary mental health care (Evans et al., 2017, Givens et al., 2021). This emphasis on the intrapersonal and psychological aspects of well-being are important given an extant literature that suggests mental health disorders are more prevalent in prisons and jails than in the general population (Fazel & Lubbe, 2005; Prins 2014), that incarcerated individuals often have pre-existing and co-morbid mental health issues (Sirdifield et al. 2009; Tyler et al. 2019), incarceration facilitates the onset of and exacerbates mental health disorders (Birmingham, 2003, Jordan 2011, Goomany & Dickinson, 2015), and that the absence of well-being is associated with experiences of mental health disorders (Keyes and Beth Waterman, 2003).

As the extant literature argues, indicators of well-being are typically absent in the lives of incarcerated individuals due to the punitive nature of carceral settings (Toch and Kupers 2007, Craig, 2004, Goomany & Dickinson, 2015, Walker et al. 2014), the deprivation of autonomy and control experienced by incarcerated individuals (van der Kaap-Deeder et al. 2017; van der Laan and Eichelsheim 2013), the increased risk of physical and sexual victimization (Daquin & Daigle, 2018; Wolff et al., 2007), as well as separation from one’s family, friends, and support network (Cochran & Mears, 2013). Furthermore, many incarcerated people do not receive treatment for mental health conditions due to limited access to care (Gonzalez & Jennifer, 2014).

The present paper contributes to this burgeoning body of research by examining the relationship between musical practices and well-being in carceral settings. This paper follows two reviews by Coutinho et al (2015b, 2015a). focusing on group interventions and case studies involving music interventions with adults in forensic settings (n = 28). These reviews examine group music-making interventions utilizing various treatment modalities such as group music therapy, 12-step programs, and cognitive behavioral therapy, as well as various musical practices including improvisation, drumming, singing, and musical relaxation techniques (Coutinho et al., 2015b). Additionally, our paper follows a review by Chen et al. (2016) which examines five (n = 5) randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials of music therapy with adults in prisons.

Similarly to the literature on well-being in carceral settings generally, the research that addresses the relationship between music and well-being in carceral settings privileges the relationship between well-being and psychological outcomes; this is also true of the two aforementioned reviews of music and well-being in carceral settings (Coutinho et al., 2015b, Coutinho et al., 2015a, Chen et al., 2016). As a scoping review, in contrast with the aforementioned systematic reviews, we contribute uniquely to the literature by identifying and examining research (n = 55) that envisions musical practices as having the potential to both facilitate and inhibit well-being in carceral settings. In our review, musical practices refer to “a constellation of practices, techniques, and forms of knowledge: performance, audition, gesture, art object, convention, aesthetic, commodity, mediatized spectacle, embodied knowledge, acoustic material, or circulating sound” (Sonevytsky 2019). Therefore, the authors envision musical practices as tools of resistance, psychotherapeutic intervention, and conduits for conflict and discipline. Carceral settings are defined as places of confinement for persons convicted due to engagement in “criminal behavior” (Lynch, Stretesky, and Long 2015) and, for the purposes of this review, encompass prisons, jails, and immigration detention facilities.

Our review focuses on three domains: First, Musical Practices and Psychological Outcomes demonstrates the effects of musical practices on intrapersonal measures of well-being including levels of depression, anxiety, and anger; second, Musical Practices and Identity Formation demonstrates the effects of musical practices on the formation of coherent and prosocial identities; and third, Musical Practices and Power demonstrates how musical practices inhibit well-being and how music may serve as a technology of carceral discipline. Our review of the literature points to a significant gap in this burgeoning body of literature, namely an uncritical focus on the intrapersonal effects that music exerts on well-being and that comes at the expense of a more expansive, nuanced, and sociological critique of the relationship between music, well-being, and power in carceral settings.

Methods

Databases used and search terms

We utilized ProQuest, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and PsycInfo to canvas the literature for this scoping review. A scoping review maps an existing literature base in terms of its volume, nature, and characteristics, particularly when the primary research is of a heterogenous nature (Pham et al. 2014) and is ideal here given the diversity of methodological approaches in the surveyed literature.

Table 1 contains the search terms used in this review. Using Boolean operators and modifiers (e.g. AND, OR, *, etc.), we settled on the following combinations of search terms in our reviews of ProQuest, Web of Science, and PsycInfo:

Table 1. Defining areas of interest, search domains and search terms.

Areas of Interest	Search Domains	Search Terms
Musical Practices	Forms of Musical Practice	music OR singing OR instruments OR opera OR choir OR songwriting OR blues OR hip-hop OR rap OR classical music OR pop*
Individual and Sociopolitical Impacts of Musical Practices	Social, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Emotional Impacts	mental health OR well-being OR well-being OR stress OR depression OR substance use OR anxiety OR suicide OR trauma OR addiction OR music therapy OR therapy
Carceral Settings	Types of Carceral Settings	prison OR incarceration OR jail OR detention OR immigration OR detention center OR detention facility

Set 1: (Forms of Musical Practice) AND (Social, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Emotional Impact) AND (Carceral settings).

Set 2: (Forms of Musical Practice) AND (Types of Carceral Settings).

Definitions of search terms

Musical Practices as a search term refers to “music as a constellation of practices, techniques, and forms of knowledge” (Sonevytsky, 2019, p. 294). We acknowledge the myriad ways music may be practiced without formal training and the “ethnomusicological assertion that listening is a form of musical competence” (p. 293). This expanded definition of music is reflected in the diversity of our search terms which reflects a number of musical practices and genres.

Social, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Emotional Impacts refers to the aspects of well-being that may be influenced by musical practices. Well-being is the multi-dimensional experience of positive emotions, a sense of satisfaction with life, and meaning, control, autonomy, and purpose in life (Fancourt & Finn, 2019). Given the relationship between well-being and mental health disorders (Keyes and Beth Waterman, 2003), we used search terms targeting issues like stress, depression, trauma, and substance misuse.

For the purposes of this review, we take Carceral Settings to mean prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers, settings in which human beings are detained as the outcome of behaviors perceived and labeled as “criminal” or “illegal.” We define these behaviors as “a violation of the criminal law” (Lynch, Stretesky, and Long 2015) to acknowledge the ambiguities and politics inherent in terms like “crime” and “criminality” (Schneider and Schneider 2008). We further acknowledge the complexities of incarceration as a phenomenon, which extends beyond the physical confines of detention facilities to include prisoner transportation vehicles (Haesen et al., 2023, Moran, Piacentini, and Pallot 2012), home confinement and electronic monitoring (Gibbs & King, 2003), as well as psychiatric detention facilities (Ben-Moshe, 2013).

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

This review examines research on the psychosocial impacts of musical practices on individuals in carceral settings as reflected by our search terms. To understand more significant trends within this body of research, we chose not to restrict studies based on methodology, research design, or geography.

Defining conceptual and interventional research

Interventional papers comprise 60% (n = 33) of the examined literature, which we define as research with the explicit aim of measuring the effects of music on outcome variables related to well-being. These papers are analyses or evaluations of existing interventions conducted by scholars, involve primary data collected through methodologies including ethnography, interviews, and surveys, and typically examine the effects of musical practices on well-being at the intrapersonal level, such as levels of anxiety, depression, and self-esteem.

Conceptual papers comprise 40% (n = 22) of the literature reviewed, which we define as research that examines the underlying theories of musical practice in carceral settings. This research suggests how existing interventions may be adapted to suit other populations or problematize existing theories of musical practice in carceral settings and typically examine the effects of musical practice on well-being at the sociopolitical level, such as the relationship between musical practices and culture.

Article selection procedures

Using the terms above, our search yielded a total of 124 articles. Grounded in our inclusion and exclusion criteria, we excluded 69 papers that did not meet our criteria. The final sample includes a total of 55 articles. We analyzed groups of 5 articles and discussed their contents during weekly team meetings. Grounded in the literature, we agreed to look for what we broadly defined as the key focus of each paper, that is, intervention results as well as conceptual analyses of musical practices. Two independent coders reviewed the papers and discussed their findings in fifteen 60-minute meetings. Based on the overlapping findings of each coder, we established three areas of interest to guide our analysis: (1) Influences of Musical Practices on Well-Being, (2) Musical Practices and Identity Formation, and (3) Musical Practices and Power.

Results

Musical practices and psychological outcomes

Table 2 shows that 38% (n = 21) of the articles concern the effects of music on psychological outcomes. The consensus within this body of literature is that musical practices, such as listening to relaxing music, songwriting, and music therapy programs have the potential to increase levels of sociality (n = 14) by facilitating the development of prosocial skills and experiences of connectedness, the capacity to cope with the experiences of incarceration (n = 7) by decreasing levels of boredom and stress, and self-esteem (n = 9) by facilitating experiences of validation and achievement. It also details the potentiality of music to decrease levels of anxiety, anger, or depression (n = 8). Finally, 38% (n = 8) of the papers in this cluster examined the impact of psychotherapeutic interventions (Chen et al., 2016, Chen & Hannibal, 2019, Daveson & Edwards, 2001, Gold et al., 2014, Macfarlane et al., 2019, Richards et al., 2019, Segall, 2017, Thaut, 1987). The remaining 62% (n = 13) describe a variety of musical practices, including participation in a string ensemble (Thompson, 2022, Uhler, 2020), songwriting (Cohen & Wilson, 2017, Ierardi and Nicole, 2012), listening to “relaxing music” (Bensimon et al., 2015), non-specified group music-making practices (Quadros, 2015, Lenette et al., 2016, Weston & Lenette, 2016), music production (Atherton et al., 2022), choral singing (Cohen, 2009a, Roma, 2010), traditional Indonesian Gamelan percussion (D. Wilson, Caulfield, and Atherton 2009), and a music program for mothers and their infant children known as the “BebeBaba” program (Rodrigues et al. 2010).

Table 2. Musical practices and psychological outcomes

Author (Year)	Type of Paper	Outcome Variables	Sample
Atherton et al. (2022)	Intervention	Increased levels of hope, sociality, pro-social identities	Undisclosed
Bensimon et al. (2015)	Intervention	Decreased levels of anxiety and anger	n = 48, male adults
Chen et al. (2016)	Intervention	Decreased levels of depression and increased self-esteem, social functioning	n = 200, men
Chen and Hannibal (2019)	Intervention	Decreased defensiveness, anxiety, and depression; increased sociality, capacity to share emotions, self-esteem	n = 1, male
Cohen (2009a, b)	Intervention	Increased levels of sociality and well-being	Experiment 1, n = 20, men; Experiment 2, n = 48, men; Control Groups for Experiment 1 and 2, n = 10, men
Cohen and Wilson (2017)	Intervention	Increased coping skills, sense of identity, internal locus of control, fulfillment, sociality	n = 17, males
Daveson and Edwards (2001)	Intervention	Decreased stress; increased relaxation, self-expression	n = 7, Caucasian women
Quadros (2015)	Intervention	Increased vulnerability, mutual respect, tenderness, hope	Two separate groups; Group 1, n = 20, all men; Group 2, n=undisclosed, all women
Gold et al. (2014)	Intervention	Suggests decreased levels of anxiety	n = 113, males
Ierardi and Nicole (2012)	Intervention	Increased sense of validation, hope, social skills	Youth in a short-term juvenile detention center, ages 10–21; male and female units; full sample not disclosed
Lenette et al. (2016)	Conceptual	Increased belonging, community, resiliency, agency	Male and female asylum seekers
Macfarlane et al. (2019)	Intervention	Decreased arousal symptoms, increased selective and sustained attention levels	n = 13, males
Richards et al. (2019)	Intervention	Increased connection, ability to cope with incarceration	n = 10, 5 males and 5 females; recruited through the Missouri County Justice Center
Rodrigues et al. (2010)	Conceptual	Increased self-confidence, sociality, quality of interactions between mothers and infants; decreased stress	Specific sample size not disclosed; comprised of mothers and babies.
Roma (2010)	Intervention	Increased spiritual and emotional development, cooperation, connections to communities outside of prison	Incarcerated men, specific sample size not disclosed.
Segall (2017)	Intervention	Decreased levels of stress; increased levels of executive functioning	Experimental group, n = 20; Control group, n = 20; all males
Thaut (1987)	Intervention	Decreased hostility; increased constructive social interactions in groups, self-esteem	n = 119, male patients
Thompson (2022)	Intervention	Increased prosocial skills, frustration tolerance, perseverance	n = 8, 13 to 17 years old
Uhler (2020)	Intervention	Increased satisfaction, time management, communication skills, and empathy	n = 8, aged 13 to 17, male and females
Weston and Lenette (2016)	Conceptual	Increased self-expression, community, connectedness	n = 6 per session, identifying information unavailable
Wilson et al. (2009)	Conceptual	Increased trust between staff and prisoners, communication skills, achievement, empowerment; decreased sense of boredom	Facility 1, adult males; Facility 2, psychiatric prison with undisclosed sample

Musical practices and identity formation

Table 3 shows that 41% (n = 22) of the papers demonstrate the role of music in the formation of prosocial identities. They argue that identities are multiple, constructed, and performed. As Anderson and Overy (2010) suggest, “Arts programs can perhaps give [incarcerated individuals] the opportunity to develop an identity that is separate from ‘prisoner’; they can identify themselves as a musician or artist” (p. 47). This research suggests that identity transformation is facilitated by increasing the ability to contest imposed identities such as that of being a “criminal” and that musical practices are understood to be a process through which social identities may be actively learned and re-learned. These articles stress the importance of culturally-informed musical interventions sensitive to such issues as race, ethnicity, and age, and the inclusion of different types of musical practices, including hip-hop (Ierardi and Nicole, 2012, Baker & Homan, 2007, Bramwell, 2018) and Aboriginal music (Bamarki, 2016). These papers also show associations between identity transformation and increased awareness or expression of one’s sense of self (n = 11), self-esteem (n = 10), and increased sense of community and collaboration (n = 9).

Table 3. Musical practices and identity formation.

Author (Year)	Type of Paper	Outcome Variables	Sample
Abrahams et al. (2012)	Intervention	Increased self-expression, insights into self, sense of hope	Incarcerated men, sample otherwise undisclosed
Anderson (2012)	Intervention	Increased engagement in education, self-esteem, self-reflection	Incarcerated men
Anderson and Overy (2010)	Intervention	Increased participation in education, self-esteem, sense of meaning	n = 14; males, ages 17–21
Baker and Homan (2007)	Intervention	Increased sense of peace, self-esteem, organizational skills, self-expression, awareness of identity	Not explicitly stated; primarily Black male youth
Bamarki (2016)	Conceptual	Music to denounce colonial ideologies, revitalize Aboriginal values	Aboriginal women in Canada
Barrett and Baker (2012)	Intervention	Encouraged “re-definition of self”; increased sense of community, self-esteem, future-oriented resilience; embodiment of identity as a community member and musician	n = 22, Australian Aboriginal teenage males (ages 14–18)
Bramwell (2018)	Intervention	Increased ability to explicate experiences in the criminal justice system, peace between Black prisoners and prison staff, ability to negotiate identities, sense of freedom	n = 110; 45% were Black or mixed-race, 20% Asian, 30% White; men
Caulfield et al. (2016)	Intervention	Increased positive social identities, self-esteem, collective identity, engagement in educational programming	n = 18; male offenders, presently incarcerated and “ex-offenders”
Cohen (2000)	Conceptual	“Interactional choral singing pedagogy,” “choral musicking” and “desirable social behaviors” and “growth”	N/A
Cohen (2009b)	Conceptual	Increased self-esteem, sense of trust, sense of accomplishment; influences perceptions of self by others, sociality	Prison choir conductors’ perspectives (n = 9); 6 Kansas prison choir; male and female choirs
Dickie-Johnson and Meek (2020)	Intervention	Increased knowledge of self, drive to change perceptions of self, sense of community, self-esteem, resilience to deconstructive effects of incarceration; music as an “escape.”	Organization 1. n = 6 participants, male; organization 2, n = 5 and n = 8, undisclosed
Henley (2015)	Intervention	Development of “positive” identities, social capital and individual agency	Project 1, non-incarcerated children and youth; Project 2, male and female offenders, otherwise undisclosed
Henley et al. (2012)	Intervention	Increased awareness of self, self-expression, self-esteem, communication skills, coping skills, anger management, feelings of “being normal”	n = 15–20 per session, men and women
Hjørnevik (2022)	Intervention	“Therapeutic music scene,” negotiation of identity and belonging; facilitation of “noncoercive forms of personal development”	n = 34 incarcerated participants, n = 5 prison staff
Hjørnevik et al. (2022)	Intervention	Use of music to maintain coherent sense of self, as vehicle for noncoercive personal development	Undisclosed
Hjørnevik and Waage (2019)	Intervention	Increased empathy, empowerment, and self-esteem; facilitated “musical emotion zones” which fostered forms of “musical caring” and caring identities, sociality	Male offenders; interviews, n = 11
Kyprianides and Easterbrook (2020)	Intervention	Decreased symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress; dissolution of rivalries between prisoners; increased sense of purpose, social engagement	n = 104, otherwise undisclosed (study 1); n = 15, men and women (study 2)
Menning (2010)	Conceptual	Proposes adaptation of NZ prison choral program to Maori cultural values and practices	N/A
Robertson (2017)	Conceptual	Increased sociality, assertion of bicultural affiliations, contestation of enforced identities	Nisei in internment camps, men and women
Silber (2005)	Intervention	Increased capacity to embody new identities, form “alternative communities,” sociality	n = 7; incarcerated women
Tett et al. (2012)	Intervention	Increased positive feelings to learning, collaboration, sense of responsibility, self-esteem; facilitated exploration of self and identity, active learning culture	n = 25, male
Wilson (2014)	Intervention	Increased expression of personal identity, sense of self-actualization, sense of control, ability to process difficult emotions, increased sense of hope	n = 17, incarcerated men

Musical practices and power

Table 4 demonstrates that 22% (n = 12) of the reviewed papers suggest that musical practices in carceral settings may be a source of empowerment and disempowerment. In this cluster, 50% (n = 6) of the articles refer to the use of music as a tool of resistance (Elsila, 1995, Hemsworth, 2016, Mendonça, 2010, Rice, 2016, Tuastad & O’Grady, 2013, Waller, 2018), which we define as the ability to oppose oppressive restrictions imposed in carceral settings. For example, Hemsworth (2016) demonstrates how women would “break out into simultaneous singing or screaming” as a form of protest while in lockdown. In this review, 42% (n = 5) of the surveyed articles suggest that music may be used to discipline incarcerated people (Rice 2016, Hemsworth 2016, Waller 2018, Tuastad and O’Grady 2013, Cusick, 2008) to form “docile and amenable” bodies (Foucault, 1995). For example, Cusick (2008) details the use of “loud music” by the American government to torture and “break” Guantanamo Bay detainees to impress upon them the futility of resisting interrogation. 42% percent (n = 5) of articles suggest that music may serve as a source of conflict (Barak & Stebbins, 2017, Edri & Bensimon, 2019, Harbert, 2011, 2013, Hemsworth, 2016, Rice, 2016), which we define as interpersonal disturbances resulting from the opposition of mutually exclusive desires. Edri and Bensimon (2019), for example, demonstrate how music may rouse suspicion and hostility between incarcerated people and guards.

Table 4. Musical practices and power.

Author (Year)	Type of Paper	Outcome Variables	Sample
Barak and Stebbins (2017)	Conceptual	Potential exacerbation of alienation and marginalization	n = 21, male prisoners
Cusick (2008)	Conceptual	“Breaking” and torture of detainees at Guantánamo, “loud music.”	N/A
Edri and Bensimon (2019)	Conceptual	How prisoners and staff are exposed to music; music as “escape,” music as a source of solidarity and suspicion	n = 19, undisclosed
Elsila (1995)	Conceptual	Music as “escape,” managing stress, music as resistance	Incarcerated men
Harbert (2011)	Conceptual	Use of “musical strategies” to “escape,” facilitate “community building,” “[maintain] musical careers that span pre-convict and post-convict selves”	Multi-sited ethnography at three correctional facilities, adult male and female prisoners
Harbert (2013)	Conceptual	Increased coping skills, sense of meaning; increased opportunities for conflict and anxiety	Incarcerated women
Hemsworth (2016)	Conceptual	How sound orients and disorients, connects and disconnects; sound as a tool of resistance to reclaim dignity	Not explicitly stated, based on interviews and written accounts
Lucas (2013)	Conceptual	Critiques redemptive framing of arts in carceral settings, how art monitors behavior and increases stigmatization	Incarcerated women
Mendonça (2010)	Conceptual	Increased sociality, agency, ability to cope, participation in educational programming	Male prisoners
Rice (2016)	Conceptual	Increased agency, ability to shape “sonic spaces”; “acoustical agency” as source of tension between prisoners	Incarcerated men and women, written accounts
Tuastad and O’Grady (2013)	Conceptual	“Escaping reality” and “entering reality” (i.e. building ties to the world outside prison)	Not explicitly stated; varied, across two separate theses
Waller (2018)	Conceptual	Objectification of carceral subjects; amenability of carceral subjects to discipline and regulation	N/A

Discussion

Musical Practices and Psychological Outcomes broadly discusses the relationship between music and the psychological well-being of incarcerated people. These findings are consistent with the outcomes of previous reviews of the impact of music in carceral settings by Coutinho et al. (2015b, 2015a) and Chen et al. (2016), which have demonstrated similar effects of musical practices on psychological outcomes.

Musical Practices and Identity Formation suggest that musical practices positively influence self-esteem and sociality which may facilitate processes of identity transformation. Dickie-Johnson and Meek (2020) note that experiences of incarceration may strengthen maladaptive identifications with criminality, result in low levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy, and thus inhibit rehabilitation efforts. As such, this domain demonstrates how this reconfiguration of identity is essential to facilitating desistance from crime (Baker & Homan, 2007; Dickie-Johnson & Meek, 2020; Anderson, 2012; Henley 2015; Henley et al. 2012; Tett et al. 2012; C. M. Wilson 2014; Caulfield et al., 2016). Engagement in musical practices may facilitate this shift by providing alternative identities to adopt; for example, Henley (2015) and Silber (2005) note that incarcerated participants were able to broaden their identities by relating to one another as musicians in a Javanese gamelan ensemble and choral group, respectively, whereas Barrett and Baker (2012) note that music programs may facilitate identity transformation by nurturing a positive “learning identity” and increase one’s capacity to engage in learning tasks. Finally, Hjørnevik and Waage (2019) suggest that engagement in musical practices may provide incarcerated participants with “intimate emotion zones” and provide them with opportunities to exhibit “musical caring” and compassion toward other incarcerated people through teaching and by offering support to others while creating or performing music.

Musical Practices and Power suggests that musical practices may be conduits of conflict and disciplinary power. Whereas other papers indicate the positive effects of engagement in musical practices on sociality and connectedness, this body of literature shows that music may also be a source of social disconnection. These examples remind us that musical practices are not always benevolent with guaranteed, positive outcomes in carceral settings. For instance, the authors within this domain stress that musical practice in carceral settings may facilitate the very kinds of harms that such research attempts to remediate. This is most spectacularly demonstrated by Cusick’s (2008) who demonstrates how music is utilized as an instrument of torture and interrogation at Guantanamo Bay. Uhler (2020) emphasizes considerations of race when she writes of a Black child who states of reading music in a classical string ensemble, who states, “I’m Black. I can’t do this. Black people don’t do this.” Harbert’s (2011, 2013) examination of a Louisiana women’s prison demonstrates how the dynamics of a choral group provide fodder for interpersonal conflict and anxiety.

Disciplinary perspectives on music and power in carceral settings

An expansive understanding of music is implicitly reflected in this body of literature, including music therapy, participatory music, community music therapy, music education, as well as sociologically informed analyses of music in carceral settings. Despite these varied perspectives, there is little coherence as to what distinguishes the practice of music across frameworks, although some authors attempt to do so. Hjørnevik and Waage (2019) define music therapy as an agent of behavioral change as well as a means to decrease psychiatric symptomatology. This definition of music therapy dovetails with the research included in Musical Practices and Psychological Outcomes and Musical Practices and Identity Formation, as they examine the effects of music on psychological outcomes as well as behavioral changes such as desistance from crime. Music therapists may draw from this body of research for an overview of the musical practices utilized in therapeutic applications of music in carceral settings. Similarly, music educationalists may draw insights from this body of research, as their research interests overlap with music therapists; indeed, the research utilizing music education frameworks is similarly interested in behavioral change, as exemplified by its focus on the development of “learning identities” (Barrett & Baker, 2012) as well as the development of literacy skills (Anderson, 2012).

Contrastingly, several authors distance themselves from psychological understandings of musical practice. For example, Lenette et al. (2016) explicitly frame their praxis as “participatory music,” a distinction based on the “unstructured” nature of their intervention and their non-adherence to specific techniques and conventions. Similarly, Quadros (2015) adheres to the participatory praxis of Augusto Boal and argues that carceral settings frame music as a peripheral aspect of human existence – such as an extension of therapy or rehabilitation – rather than a central human right. Quadros (2014) further points to the professionalization of the arts as an example of the ways in which dynamics of power are imbricated within traditional understandings of musical practice, wherein stratified understandings of music based on dynamics of class have created differential access to the arts; as such, Quadros (2014) advocates for an approach to the arts that is collaborative and decided upon through consensus as opposed to didactic or standardized. Additionally, Hjørnevik et al. (2022) distinguish music therapy from community music therapy in that the latter similarly “emphasizes notions of mutual care and the cultivation of musical and health resources” (p. 2). Despite sharing an investment in the well-being of incarcerated participants, these theoretical orientations displace the centrality of psychological and behavioral change, emphasize the value of community and agency, and highlight the ways in which the carceral environment often works against these rehabilitative ideals.

This literature demonstrates that an exclusive focus on psychological and behavioral outcomes cannot adequately capture the breadth of well-being as a concept in carceral settings. Waller (2018) argues that music in carceral settings has historically been valued for its disciplinary qualities and that it is prudent to understand its effects as an apparatus of social control. This is a theoretical intervention which may be productively paired with the scholarship that examines the effects of music on psychology and behavior. Bensimon et al. (2019), for example, makes a policy recommendation that “relaxing music” should be considered by policymakers to “improve [the] prison atmosphere and assist prison administrators in maintaining order” (p. 406). While this suggestion attends to the psychological and behavioral implications of relaxing music, this research may fruitfully be complicated by the potential problematic of creating “docile bodies” (Waller 2018). From this birds-eye vantage point, psychological well-being becomes a vehicle through which increased social control is legitimated and exercised.

Finally, highlighting the “everyday” demonstrates how music is imbricated within the fabric of carceral life in unexpected ways. Hjørnevik et al. (2022) demonstrate the important ways in which musical practices affect both prisoners and the prison environment in ways that are not immediately knowable in an interventional setting; indeed, in their ethnography of the everyday, they demonstrate how the practice of music in carceral settings is an inherently risky practice that affords opportunities for group cohesion as well as alienation. Rice (2016) and Edri and Bensimon (2019) demonstrate the ways in which music facilitates the exercise of acoustical agency, as a force that productively and antagonistically mediates relationships between prisoners as well as between prisoners and guards. This focus on the everyday demonstrates the importance of considering how musical practices may inform social relationships within and beyond the interventional setting as well as the unexpected consequences that may ensue when the unique sociopolitical dynamics of carceral settings are not adequately tended to prior to the application of an intervention in such spaces.

Practice, research, and policy implications

The significance of attending only to psychological or behavioral outcomes is two-fold in that it first places the onus on incarcerated people to rehabilitate themselves in environments that privilege the management and incapacitation of prisoners over practices of rehabilitation and care (Craig, 2004, Goomany & Dickinson, 2015, Walker et al. 2014). Second, it obfuscates the social and cultural factors that have contributed to the rise of mass incarceration and prevents an analysis of change at, for example, levels of policy and law. We suggest that the focus of the intrapersonal ought to be considered in tandem with the sociopolitical issues that inform how musical practices operate in carceral settings.

As Ierardi and Nicole (2012) argued a decade ago, “the use of culturally informed music therapy methods has become an ethical responsibility” (p. 253). Our review suggests the need for culturally sensitive adaptations of musical practices in carceral settings. Cohen (2009a,b) reminds us that well-intentioned music interventions may unwittingly foster disillusionment among incarcerated individuals who may expect to be offered musical experiences aligned with their personal and cultural identities. Many authors have stressed the importance of using musical practices that speak to the life experiences and personal and social identities of those who both practice a certain style of music and those who listen to that style, like hip-hop with Black youth (Baker & Homan, 2007, Bramwell, 2018, Ierardi and Nicole, 2012), and Aboriginal music with Aboriginal populations (Bamarki, 2016).

Limitations

We reiterate our focus on jails, prisons, and immigration detention facilities, which precludes research in other carceral settings such as psychiatric hospitals and home incarceration. Additionally, we have not distinguished between papers based on the gender identities of participants in interventions. We highlight that 76% (n = 42) of the research papers used samples of male or female-identified participants, whereas 24% of the papers surveyed (n = 13) did not report the gender identities of research participants. Research involving only male participants comprised 42% (n = 23) of the papers, while research involving only female participants made up 9% (n = 5) of the literature reviewed. Research involving male and female participants comprised 18% (n = 10), while 7% (n = 4) of the studies utilized multiple and distinct groups of participants but only provided the gender identities of some groups and not others.

Conclusion

Our approach highlights the effects of music on the well-being and identities of incarcerated people. It also highlights the ambivalences of musical practice in carceral settings, namely the potential of musical practices to harm or discipline incarcerated participants. Music interventions are advantageous for many reasons including the appreciable effects on indicators of psychological well-being. However, we also argue for culturally sensitive approaches to music interventions as well as a broader focus on the sociopolitical nature of musical practices in carceral settings due to the potentiality of musical practices to act as an extension of disciplinary power.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Evan Hall for his contributions to this review.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.