While juvenile delinquency and the tightening of criminal penalties are widely discussed in Greece, young people who are incarcerated remain largely invisible, even in the very communities where prisons are located. What is the experience of incarceration at a young age? And what are its consequences, both during detention and in the years following release? Educator Antigone Efstratoglou coordinated a series of experiential workshops with high school students from Thessaly, members of youth arts groups, and university students from institutions across Greece. The workshops sought to document how participants imagine imprisonment and its consequences and to develop alternative narratives about the Greek justice and education systems—narratives that shift the focus away from punishment and control and toward recognition, support, and healing. As part of the programme, members of the groups attended classes at the schools within the prisons of Larissa and Chania, as well as the women’s prison in Thebes. Drawing on several months of recorded discussions among the participating groups, as well as interviews with incarcerated students and young people recently released from prison, the project produced the mini-podcast series Learning (in) Prison.

The project involved: students from the 1st Vocational High School (EPAL) of Tyrnavos and the Vocational High School (EPAL) of Farsala; members of the Synergy of Music Theatre (SMouTh) of Larissa and the Youth Theatre Group of the Municipality of Penteli; students from the Departments of Social Work at the University of West Attica and Sociology at the University of Crete; as well as incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals who are current or former students of schools operating within prisons.

We would like to thank MINOS-EMI (Universal Music Group) and Bloody Hawk for permission to use the songs “Tha ta Katafero” and “Louloudi”; Villagers of Ioannina City for “Zvara”; Anser for “I Agapi Perimenei”; Lex for “Airmax”; and Novel 729 for “Mi Fovasai Otan Pefto.”

Sound editing and mixing: Giorgos Dakovanos

Image: Koridhallos Prison. Wing E. National Preventive Mechanism Against Torture & Ill-treatment – Annual Special Report 2022-2023